Ironic
by Flit Flutterby
Summary: On hiatis. I'm still here and I do plan to finish this story. Life had a different perspective for everyone. Love isn't any differnt, it's hard and unpredictable. reposted from earlier McKayOC pairing
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hey! I'm trying angain topost this story. I can't get itto leave me alone so I pulled it off to polish it a bit more and reassess the direction I want to head in. I'm trying hard to make my OC nonstereotypical so hopefully you guys like her. **

**I really look forward to any constructive feedback anyone wishes to send to me. Yes, I understand the grammar and spelling are not perfect and hopefully you all understand I am dyslexic so I've had a couple of other people look over it, but some of it is still slightly raw.**

At the end of the day faith is a funny thing. It turns up when you don't really expect it. It's like one day you realize that the fairy tale may be slightly different than you dreamed. The castle, well, it may not be a castle. And it's not so important happy ever after, just that its happy right now. See once in a while, once in a blue moon, people will surprise you , and once in a while people may even take your breath away.  
Gray's Anatomy

A warm breeze made its way thought the city and everyone seemed to be in an unusually good mood. Even Dr. Rodney McKay had nothing relevant to complain about as the team made its way back from a surprisingly uneventful trading mission. The jumper was filled with a type of corn stuff, some meat, sugar, and the planet's version of coffee, which everyone was most grateful for. None the less the team was still quite exhausted. Dr. Weir came up to them looking pleased, and looked at Lt. Colonel John Sheppard as she spoke. "It's good to see you all back, and with a reasonable amount of success." She smiled at the team, a sight that had been seldom seen in the past few months. "Briefing is in an hour. Why don't you all take a nice shower, and please don't forget to stop and see Carson. I don't need him hunting you all down." The rest of the team wearily made it's out of the gateroom. Before Sheppard could leave Weir stopped him. "Hey John, the Daedelus is due in the morning and they're bring some more military help. I need you to look over the transfer forms," she said gently. Sheppard nodded his interest perking up slightly.

"Yeah, how many are we getting?" He asked looking over her shoulder.

"Three Air force and two Marines it looks like, yeah here… Lt. Nelson Ian Brickman, Lt. Madeline Lara Darius. Capt. Wynnie Arianna Flynn. The Marines are Sgt. Paul Lance Cappy and Sgt. Alexander Ryan Jameson."

"Alright I have a look at them after the briefing." He left the room to take long shower. Sheppard debated about not to go to his post mission check up, but that was before Dr. Beckett came and practically tore down his door. Beckett did a thorough check over him before letting him go with a clean bill of health. Without any more distraction he quickly made his way to Dr. Weir's office. "Alright we can start the meeting." He said with a smirk as the walked in.

"Thank you Colonel, I'm now only 20 minutes late to getting back to my work." His face mimicked the lopsided smile of his friend.

"Give it a rest McKay, besides everyone knows you don't do any real work around here."

"Haha." He responded sarcastically. Sheppard rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"If you don't mind," Weir said giving them a look and trying not to smile, "Let's go so we can get this done. I believe we'd all like a nice rest." The team nodded in agreement.

The briefing was short considering all had gone well. Basically they just documented the exchange and record of the goods received. Before Sheppard could leave Weir gave him a list with the descriptions of the new personnel. "It says here that Sgt. Jameson show's sighs of the ancient gene and Capt. Flynn has the potential for it well. We can use more people here to fly the jumpers." Weir's face looked optimistic. She had put in a request for more recruits with the ancient gene.

"Well Flynn may be able to, but Jameson doesn't have any flight experience. Neither does Cappy. But we can use more fighters and it says here they're best in their class. Brickman's specialty is engineering, that'll be a big help, if anything he can help maintain the jumpers. Darius's is in statistics, we can use more people good with numbers, and Flynn's is… psychology, great just what we need more shrinks… well… I just hope she's a good pilot" Sheppard said looking skeptical.

"SGC wouldn't send her if she wasn't useful. You know all the qualifications that have to be met."

"Yeah you're right. We'll have to see how well she can fly these things. It does say she's an excellent pilot." He glanced back over the forms and nodded satisfied. "We'll have to test her out soon; we lost two pilots last week. We need everyone we can get who can fly a puddle jumper."

"Right then, bright and early tomorrow morning you and I get to introduce them to Atlantis." Sheppard walked out and finished the transfer paper work before hitting the gym with Teyla.

It was before dawn when the Deadelus came in to dock. With sleep still glazed over his eyes, Colonel Sheppard made his way to the loading bay and gratefully accepted the cup of coffee placed in to his hands. "Did you sleep well?" Weir asked him. He yawned and nodded slowly.

"No worse than usual." He said coolly knowing he never slept though the night anymore. She smiled at him as he looked over the group of men and women disembarking the ship looking out of place. "I take it that's them." Weir looked down at her paper work and nodded. The walked over and all five of them stood at attention. "Good morning guys." He studied them; the two marines were both very fit, as could be expected, but very young. They looked almost fresh out of boot camp or off a high school football field. The three from the Air Force looked much more polished. The male stood close to Sheppard height with very dark eyes and black hair. One female was also quite tall with darker skin and hazel eyes. Her face was relaxed and confident; it seemed to hold a pleasant motherly quality to it. The other female had a sharp, deep gaze that held Sheppard gaze steadily as he looked them over. She stood out to him, mostly because she was considerable shorter than the rest them, but also because her eyes kept following his, studying his every more curiously.

"Good morning sir," the two marine's replied as the three others hid their smiles.

"At ease." Sheppard said with a sigh. They all relaxed considerably. Weir stepped forward.

"Welcome to Atlantis. I'm Dr. Elizabeth Weir, as you probably all know this is Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. He is the ranking military officer of this city. Atlantis is different than any other place you have ever been to on earth. We are almost completely on our own here, with limited resources. But don't worry, over the next few months you will get used to life in the Pegasus Galaxy, hopefully you'll find it enjoyable." She smiled. They showed the new recruits around the city before finally issuing them their own quarters.

"I need to see Flynn and Jameson for just a second." Sheppard asked before they all departed. Jameson, a sturdy blond with broad shoulders, stood at attention and glanced nervously at the commanding officer. Flynn, the short female, looked confident; however her green eyes flickered with uncertainty for a brief moment. "It says in your files that you both posses the ancient gene."

"Yes sir," Jameson spoke commandingly. "I have some ability; I was able to turn on some lights, sir."

"This isn't boot camp Sergeant; I think you can stand to be a little more relaxed here. How about you Captain?"

"Yes sir," She started calmly, "I was able to run some of the ancient programs in the Antarctic base. But I was only stationed there for two months and when I shown some ancient tendency they sent me to Colorado, then here."

"And you're flight capable?"

"Yes sir, I've flown mostly fighters on recon. I've not flown in battle, but I've made take offs and ladings in all standard Air Force planes and choppers, on ground and ship. However this past year I've been doing mostly intelligence work."

"What happened this past year?"

"I got promoted sir." He nodded to her.

"Jameson, you're going to be assigned to Major Lorne for the time being, you'll report to him tomorrow morning at 0600."

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Jameson, no one's going to make you do push up's here. While I'm flattered and I'm sure Major Lorne will be too, but it's going to be a long couple months if keep up this boot camp business."

"Sir… Thank you." He replied more calmly as his face visibly relaxed.

"Flynn, you're going to be flying with me tomorrow. We'll take a simple mission around the planet. I want to see how well you handle the puddle jumpers. O530 tomorrow morning, you've got to rest of the day to settle in. Don't forget to see our medical officer, Dr. Beckett, before tomorrow morning. Don't worry it's a minor physical; he'll clear you for the mission. Welcome abroad Captain."

"Thank you Colonel." She stood for a second and he nodded to her, before leaving. She walked out quickly only to me met by Lt. Darius' excited face. The officer looked at her with wide eyes.

"So what happened," she asked excitedly, sounding more like a school girl than a military pilot. Flynn laughed at her friend's giddiness.

"Nothing happened Maddy… I swear," Wynnie sighed sill laughing, "Geezz, Colonel Sheppard just wanted to know about my abilities. He's going to test them out tomorrow."

"Did you see how fine he is? I just want to take a piece him and mmm. He's gorgeous and did you see the way he looked over you." Wynnie rolled her eyes in feign annoyance.

"He's also our commanding officer dear, and besides he's not my type anyway. And for the record he wasn't eyeing anyone, I think he's taken. His arm was around Dr. Weir very protectively." Madeline shook her head and sarcastically pouted her lip.

"Wynnie you've not had a date since college, how can you be picking and choosing you're type. I'm just trying to get you to come out of that shell of yours." Wynnie looked stared at the ground for a moment before hesitating and rolled her eyes once again at her friend.

"It's not my fault, I was busy in college, and…" She hesitated for a second before continuing with a smile. "And besides all they guys went for you anyway. Ms. Beyonce look alike. And I must admit basic didn't help that much either. If anything it made you sexier."

"Yeah but I'd kill for your abs." Madeline shook her head with laughter then sighed. "Anyway so you get to fly tomorrow. I'm so jealous. I miss being home already. Sometimes I wonder why you insisted I come with you."

"Maddy you're my best friend, and the best pilot in my squad. If I want anyone here it would be you. Who knows, those illogical math skills could come in handy as well. Besides the thing I'm flying I guess can only be piloted by that gene thingy I have. I don't even know if I can pilot it. It's just a simple mission anyway." Her stomach rumbled loudly and Wynnie looked up sheepishly. "I've not eaten since we got here, let's grab some lunch?" Her friend nodded in agreement and took off after her.

The two women walked in the mess hall. Darius went to meet up with Lt. Brickman, while Flynn went to save them a table. After a couple steps Wynnie turned quickly and collided with large solid object. It took her a second to regain her bearings after stumbling back wards, but she managed to stay on her feet. She looked down to find a man about her age on the ground with his tray of food all over, looking as if a solid truck just hit him.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I'm really clumsy," she exclaimed, her face scrunched up with concern, as she bent down and offered him a hand. He examined her for a second and realized he had never seen her before. "I didn't see you. Really, I'm very sorry, please let me help you." He ignored her hand and pulled him self up. Capt. Flynn bit her lip hoping that he we accept her apology. "I'm new here, Captain Wynnie Flynn."

McKay was frustrated, he was late for a meeting with the other scientists, now he had food everywhere and she just spilled coffee down his favorite pants. He could have cared less about the feelings he was about to berate. "You should watch where you're going next time," he exclaimed irritated. She moved to pick the tray. "Don't touch that," he snapped. "You'll just cause more damage." Then he mumbled off some incoherent ranting about getting back to work.

"Wonderful, I just hope I never have to see him again." she mumbled to herself.

"Don't worry about him lass," a heavily accented voice said behind her. He handed her a napkin to wipe herself off with. "You're new here so I'll warn ya, Dr. McKay gets into these moods sometimes, but don't worry about him at all. He can actually be human when he wants too. I'm Dr. Carson Beckett my dear. You can just call me Carson if you'd like, or Beckett." He offered her a crooked smile, which she returned back.

"Dr. Beckett? I believe I'm supposed to see you later today for a pre mission physical. I'm Capt. Wynnie Flynn, but Wynnie would do." He took her hand and kissed it lightly.

"Wynnie, pretty name, Irish I presume." She nodded and glanced down. "I can see you now if you'd like maybe check that bump on your head. I'm heading back to my office." Her stomach grumbled loudly and Wynnie blushed embarrassed.

"I've not eaten since I've gotten here. Maybe I can see you after lunch?"

"Of course my dear, when you're ready." She gave him a small smile back and glanced away as he tried to catch her eye. "Good day Captain."

"See ya."

Lt. Darius side swooped down towards her friend and handed her a tray. Wynnie looked at her friend and laughed, "Before you say anything, yes I think the doctor guy is kind of cute, but you know as well as I do nothing is going to happen. The guy I bumped into was a complete jerk and with God willing, I'll never have to see him again."

She gulped her lunch down with gusto and proceeded to stare off into space while waiting for her friend to finish. Something caught her attention. "Hello there, are we back on Ear… Atlantis again." Lt. Darius said with a smile. She was ready to head out and looked expectantly at Wynnie.

"I've got to head to the infirmary but I'll see you later." The two parted ways and Wynnie was left to make her way to the infirmary. Unfortunately for her it was missed on the tour she had received early. Lost and turned around she made up her mind to ask the first person she saw to point her in the right direction. It took a couple minutes but finally she heard someone else walking. She turned to find the very same man she bumped into earlier muttering to himself, and holding a towel around his arm. Not willing to pace around anymore she made up her mind to ask him for direction. "You there, Dr. er. McGee… Do you know where the infirmary is?"

"It's McKay, Dr. McKay, and of course I know where the infirmary is, can't you see I'm heading there myself." He lifted the towel to reveal a superficial cut that was bleeding. "Hey wait a minute you're one who ruined my favorite pants. You owe me new pants." His voice was pestering and pounded on the nerves in Wynnie's brain.

"And how am I suppose to do that here," she retorted back flustered. He was grating her nerves. "Look, are you going to show me where the infirmary is, or am I going to have to follow you anyway." He looked surprised for a moment, and nodded his head.

"Yeah come on." With a huff and sigh she followed him. She could tell he was studying her, looking for something to berate her about. But he kept coming up strangely silent. "This is it." He mumbled incoherently.

"Excuse me?"

"This is the infirmary. God! Is everyone around here deaf or am I speaking Chinese." He asserted scathingly.

"No, you're speaking jerk, or maybe pompous ass." She paused for a moment to study him back, and inwardly smiled at him. Something about him was different. Yes, he was rude, annoying, and obnoxious to her, and she had only been there a few hours, but she could see that deep down, he was… different…. complicated. "But thank you… for your help." She waited for a second for him to go in. "Aren't you going in?" He looked up at her, and gave her a faint smile.

"What? No, I wasn't planning on it." She gave him a funny look and walked in.

After a half an hour in the infirmary Dr. Beckett declared Wynnie healthy and proceeded to offer her a tour of the city. She politely declined, telling him she still needed to settle in to her living quarters, which was actually quite true. She had been in the city near eight hours now and still had not gotten a chance to see where she would be living. When she finally arrived at her assigned room her bags and personal items had been delivered. After looking around the small room, which she decided was smaller than her apartment but larger than her dorm room in college; she unpacked her laptop and Ipod first. Her ipod and the few accessories, was her one non issued personal item she was aloud to bring. Everything else she kind of flung about, but her laptop and ipod rested neatly on the desk by her bed. She sat down and the second her head hit the pillow she was out.

The next thing she remember was a frantic knocking on her door way. It was Lt. Darius, she was looking rather exasperated. "Wynnie, where have you been? It's almost 9:30 and I thought we were grabbing dinner at 8." She rubbed her eyes and looked at her friend.

"Sorry Maddy, I was sleeping. I guess I forgot to set an alarm." Her friend rolled her eyes at her.

"I figured as much," she said with a small smile. "Well here I nabbed some fruit and ham and cheese sandwich." Wynnie took it from her gratefully. Madeline looked around the room. "It's been less than a day and you've already spread your stuff over every possible surface. Of course you brought your Ipod. I swear that thing is almost surgically attached to your ear."

"You know I love music. What did you bring as your personal item?" Her friend smiled guiltily.

"I think you know."

"You didn't?"

"Yes I did, the complete first season of Gray's Anatomy."

"Oh man! That's my favorite show. I've not seen it in forever. We'll have to watch it, one night."

"Of course, one night where we're both free we'll have a girl's night. Who knows maybe we'll have more people to join us." Wynnie yawned and nodded.

"You and your annoying bubbly personality, makes me want to gag. I wonder why I hang out with you."

"Because you'd be lost without me." The two friends shared a smile and Wynnie nodded seriously.

"That is true." She laughed slightly and smiled warmly at her friend. "Anyway, I've got a mission in the morning and you know I need to sleep, so I'm going to eat this… wonderful… I guess… looking sandwich, shower, then hit the sack." Madeline stood up and nodded to her friend.

"Yeah I've had a long day to; my team officer wants to see me at 0600 tomorrow morning." She stood and walked to the door then turned around to her friend. "Hey Captain… good luck tomorrow." Then she saluted her friend and walked out.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm hopeing you guys like it, if you could review that would be nice. It give me something to look forward to when I get home from a long day at work.**

Maybe we're not supposed to be happy. Maybe gratitude has nothing to do with joy. Maybe being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is. Appreciating small victories. Admiring the struggle it takes simply to be human. Maybe we're thankful for the familiar things we know. And maybe we're thankful for the things we'll never know. At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate.  
Dr. Meredith Grey, Grey's Anatomy

The next morning she arrived early to gateroom, and watched the people around her prepare for the coming day. It was fascinating to her. Watching the people go about, as if all in a coordinated ballet. Finally she saw Colonel Sheppard wearing his aviator shades walking in with Dr. McKay. Sheppard nodded over to her. "Good morning Captain. Good you see you here early."

"Good morning to you too Sir, Dr. McKay." She nodded cordially at the two men.

"Captain," McKay nodded coolly. "I believe you still owe me a new pair of pants." She rolled her eyes at him and caught a small crack Sheppard's lips.

"Well if you're ready, I'm going to take the jumper up and then we'll switch and I'll see your hand at the controls, if all goes well we can try taking it thought the gate and back."

"Yes sir," she replied calmly. "I'm quite ready"

"Well then let's do this."

"Um… Sir, Dr. McKay is coming?"

"Yeah, he came to me last night and asked if her could do some work calculating trajectories, and efficiency testing. This is a relatively simple mission I told him he could come along. Are you alright with this Captain?" She thought for a moment.

"Yes, of course Sir."

"Good." He nodded at her. "Well then let's get going." The three of them boarded the jumper and Sheppard took it up to orbit the planet effortlessly. "Now Flynn, there are some things I should tell you, the ship responds mostly to instinct. Just be steady with the stick." She took the controls. At first the jumper started shaking and losing altitude. "Flynn relax and straighten out," Sheppard barked out and grabbed the stick to guide the ship. She took a deep breath to calm down and finally the jumper started straightening out.

"For a second there I thought breakfast was going to make a second appearance," McKay added in.

"You weren't much better your first time taking the controls, I seem to remember flying side to side." McKay shut up and Wynnie started relaxing at the controls. The jumper was much different than flying her fighter on earth, but it wasn't hard. She was actually beginning to enjoy it. "You're doing great Flynn."

"Colonel I've got a question for you. What are the Wraith? I've been hearing people talk about them." Sheppard sighed and rubbed his hand on his eyes.

"What have you heard?"

"Mostly that the feed on humans. That they can sleep for centuries while the stocks get bigger then feed on the struggling populations. I heard they're pretty ruthless and very dangerous."

"Yeah, that's most of it. Basically, they're like bugs. We've been fighting with them since we arrived. Unfortunately it's almost guaranteed you'll meet up with one."

"Sir?" Her voice shook slightly with fear.

"You've got some good training under your belt, just rely on that. You'll get by. While you're in Atlantis you'll be safe." She glanced away from the controls back at McKay, who nodded to her gravely.

"But you've both survived." It was a statement more than a question.

"Yes, by luck and instinct. Captain, I know the Air Force and you wouldn't have gotten so far if you didn't have good instincts, trust your self and your weapon."

"Thank you Sir." Sheppard gave her a small reassuring nod.

"Captain," McKay spoke up, breaking a long silence that had settled in the jumper. Sheppard seemed content with it but McKay was fidgeting. "Why are you here?"

"Because I was assigned here." She replied looking slightly confused.

"Don't they give you guys a choice?"

"Yes, and I chose to come. They said they needed people with my… skill… so why not." She gave him a look of annoyance,

"Well you're leaving everything behind, you know friends, family, significant other. Atlantis can get lonely without familiar people."

"Dr. McKay do you ask everyone these questions?" She looked at him and then Sheppard. He shook his head, but McKay didn't respond. Wynnie looked at him and then forward, in an almost longing way. "I have no one behind. My only friend is Lt. Darius and I was allowed to choose one person from my team to come and she was my choice."

"So you choose her because she was your friend?" Wynnie shot him an offended look.

"Not because she was my friend, but because she's the smartest and best polite I had. I'd trust her with my life." She barked out annoyed. "Why are you pressing the matter?" McKay gave her a small smile.

"I'm just making conversation."

"Aren't you supposed to be doing some calculations or something?" She couldn't figure out why but his questions were making her uncomfortable. If it had been any other person talking to her she wouldn't have felt so embarrassed. But she knew McKay was trying to get in to her head and it bugged her. It was partially because she didn't want him to know about her previous life, before she had come to Atlantis.

"Yes, but I'm done."

"You're being obnoxious."

"I'm obnoxious? You're the one taking offence to my questions."

"I think I liked you better when you were annoying me about your stupid, ugly pants."

"Hey it's not my fault you plowed into me."

"Ok Children, please, fight nice." Sheppard finally cut in then his radio came on. It was Elizabeth asking how soon they could return back. "Flynn you're doing a good job, but I'm going to take us back in to Atlantis, the next mission you're going to take us through the gate, alright?"

"Yes, Thank you."

They returned to Atlantis and Wynnie was dismissed for the rest of the day. So she decided to go for a run. She went through the area she toured the day before, through the living quarters. Then she ran up into the lab area and stopped to catch her breath; she was running harder than normal and was pushed her self beyond her normal limits. On top of the running her body was still dealing with the stress of the move. After a couple steps she stumbled and slid down a wall panting. Someone was coming and she pulled herself up and stood there. It was Dr. Beckett, he was looking at some charts from something as he was leaving one of the labs. Wynnie inhaled sharply and steadied herself.

"Captain Flynn, I didn't expect to see you here," he said looking up from work.

"Yeah… I was taking a run." She breathed deep again.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, fine. I'm just tired I took about…" she looked at her distance meter "…seven miles. I'd be worried if I wasn't out of breath." He smiled at her.

"Care to walk back with me?" She looked at him crookedly and noticed his intentions were genuine and smiled back.

"I believe I can do that." She took a step forward and stumbled forward. Beckett caught and looked her over.

"Are you sure you're ok?" He took out his pen light and shown it in her eyes. "I believe you to be quite dehydrated. How fast did you run those seven miles?" She looked at her watch.

"About 45 minutes."

"And you didn't bring any water with you, no wonder you're looking so pale. Your body holds about forty liters of water. Losing just fifty percent of that water is fatal. Though I don't think you've lost twenty liters, my prediction is about three which can still make you woozy. Come on let's get you something to drink." He gently guided her to the infirmary and sat her down. He handed her a bottle of water which she took gratefully. "Take small sips for now."

"Dr. Beckett…"

"Carson, please." She smiled.

"Carson, have you always wanted to be a doctor?"

"Ever since I was a wee lad my dear. Why do you ask?"

"Because I wanted to be a doctor for the longest time, I never had the grades in college. I got rejection after rejection and finally I gave up. It was a joke anyway I couldn't pay for it." She sighed and laughed. "The more I look back the more I should have seen the signs I was never cut out for med school. Of course I wasn't cut out for my other dream of being a dolphin trainer either. I can't swim well so that was out right away," She forced out a laugh and looked down. A part of her was wondering why she was telling him this, but something about him told her it was okay to talk to him.

"Do you like what you're doing now?"

"Yes very much. I love flying."

"Well I think as long as you're content with what you're doing now you should accept that. Now drink that, or else I'll be forced to start you on an IV of fluids." She took a sip and smiled at him.

"I'm glad I met you."

"Aww thank you my dear. I've got to get back to work, but if you don't finish that I'll come and hunt you down and force it in to you." She laughed.

An annoying buzz woke her up the next morning. She rolled over and looked at the clock it was 4:45 am. It took a moment for her to realize the buzzing was her radio. She was wanted in the gateroom. In haste she got dressed and threw her hair into a messy pony tail. She ran down to the gateroom and saw Colonel Sheppard standing with Dr. Weir, McKay, and another solder she didn't know. "Whats going on," She asked looking around.

"We got a distress call from Teyla and Ronon," Sheppard replied adjusting his radio. "We're going in to find them with Major Lorne's team SGA-2."

"Teyla and Ronon?"

"They're rest of my team, SGA-1. You met them the other day in the gym. They're on a planet called Saphus, they were suppose to bring back a supply of olives and wheat. We got a transmission from them saying there has been some political unrest and fighting in the streets. Basically we want to go in and get them out." They all nodded at him.

"Sir, how will we find them?" The soldier asked.

"We've got life signs detectors and Teyla left us some coordinates to find them. They can't get back to the stargate by themselves but they've managed to find a place to hide." They nodded.

"Colonel, if you don't mind me asking, why do you want me?" Wynnie asked.

"Because we're taking two ships and incase someone is injured having another pilot will help us. Plus it will be good experience."

"Yes, Sir."

"All right if there are no other questions of complaints lets go in and get them out. If anyone gets separated head for the ship, and for God sake don't get your self killed." The two teams bored the ships and went through the gate. Wynnie had never been through and held her breath until she found herself on the other side. She looked up and saw McKay laughing at her.

"It's pretty intense your first time through, huh." She just glared at him. Sheppard set the jumper down and she and McKay got out and met Lorne's team. She noted that Sergeant Jameson was with them.

"Flynn, you're with me and McKay, Lorne's team, you're behind us giving cover. Pick two to watch the jumpers." Sheppard called to her. She nodded back and looked around. The village they touched down by looked similar to a medieval town in England. However, she could hear the intense gun fire in the distance telling her the weapons were more advanced. Though she had never been in combat before, she knew the gut feeling of uncertainty and fear was rising in her stomach. She held her gun at shoulder level and look at Sheppard. He looked so dignified and alert. But, when he looked back at her, he gave her a look, and she knew he was just as edgy as she was. She turned around and saw something falling towards them.

"Incoming," she screamed out and grabbed the closet person to her and shoved him to the ground. It happened to be McKay who gave her a half smile of thanks as canon fire landed where he had been standing previously.

"McKay, Flynn, you alright?"

"Yes, we're fine, both of us." Sheppard glanced over them quickly noting they were uninjured then gave her a small smile. She hadn't realized that her arm was still protectively around McKay. Sheppard motioned them forward and they ran off into the wooded area.

They walked for a good hour before climbing over some boulders. In the distance they could see a few cliffs about a mile away. "Is that where they are Sir?" Wynnie asked quietly.

"Yes, were going too…" He looked at McKay who held a life signs detector.

"It appears to be the one point south by southwest. Over… there." McKay answered, taking a sideways glance at Wynnie. They heard another canon fall somewhere close. Wynnie jumped up, something moved in the woods and she held her gun tighter.

"Sir, I believe we're being watched."

"I know he's been following us since we passed those rocks back there. He's not made a move yet so hold your fire. Remember we're not the target and we're hoping to still trade with these people."

"Yes of course." She replied. There was fire in Sheppard's tone because he greatly mistrusted these people.

They walked further towards the cliffs until their shadows fell upon the team. More shots were heard but the fighting seemed to be farther away.

"Couldn't we have landed the jumpers close the cliffs?" McKay complained.

"No, there isn't enough space to put both them; the forest goes right up to the cliffs." Sheppard answered. McKay sighed and continued to follow Sheppard and Wynnie. They team continued on until they got closer to the edge of the forest, then shots were fired at them. Sheppard took aim and fired back, Wynnie hesitated for a second before returning the fire. One of the men shooting looked at her shocked before he fell back. She gasped and looked guiltily back at Sheppard who was concentrating on the few remaining renegades. "Are you out," he called to her. She shook her head and took aim again. Finally the last remaining shooter fell and Sheppard looked at McKay and Wynnie. "Anyone hurt?" She patted her self down looking for any injury.

"No! I'm alright, McKay?" Wynnie answered quickly and then turned to McKay. He shook his head then they both looked at Sheppard.

"Sir, your arm." Wynnie pointed out the growing blotch of red on the colonel's triceps. He looked down at it and noticed he'd been grazed by a bullet.

"It's nothing. Not even bleeding that much" He shrugged off. "But can you give me a hand with a bandage anyway." It took a moment of hesitation before she could get the bandages out of her kit. McKay took them and wrapped Sheppard's arm before she could move.

"Are you all right Colonel?" She asked feeling awful because McKay helped him before she could even move.

"Yeah, really… it's nothing." She looked uncertain for a second and nodded as they carried on.

Finally they reached the cave opening and cautiously looked around before they went in. Major Lorne's team caught up and posted themselves at the entrance. "Teyla," Sheppard called into the cave and his radio. "Teyla, Ronon this is Sheppard, what is your position." They heard something move and Wynnie raised her weapon. Teyla's face appeared. Her skin was pale, and her normally poised look was flustered.

"Colonel Sheppard, I am here," she said quietly. Sheppard rushed over to her and looked her over, then put his hand on her arm.

"Teyla, it's good to see you alright."

"I fear that we are not all alright. One of the reason's we had to retreat here is Ronon has broken his leg and can no longer walk. I am sorry, but I could bring him to the gate. That is why I sent the distress signal." Teyla led them to a sullen and pained Ronon. His shin was heavily bandage and blood was seeping through. It was a compound fracture that was expertly splinted, but still in need of higher care.

"How are you there," Sheppard asked.

"I feel like dancing," Ronon answered sarcastically. "And before you ask, no I can't stand. Not that Teyla would let me anyway." Sheppard nodded.

"Well let's see, there are four of us in here."

"And two outside," McKay added.

"And two outside… so two of us can take turns carrying you back to the jumper."

"If it were up to me I'd walk back, but sorry I can't. I can still hold a gun though even if you carry me I can hold it and fight." Ronon said gruffly.

"Sir, the ships four miles back," Wynnie stated. "But… Sir, you can send me back and I can bring one of the ships and I can land it just outside. There's enough room for one, but the second one can hover over."

"Can we be sure that the jumpers would be safe landing? I know there's been fire outside," Teyla said.

"Yes but Lorne's team can give them some cover. Also once we land jumper 1, jumper 2 can also give it cover from air." Sheppard answered.

"Are you really going to trust her to bring the jumper back? She's only flown it once and never had to take off or land." McKay said as Wynnie shot him a dirty look.

"True, but the jumpers fly mostly on instinct. I think she'll be alright, if Beckett can fly one, than anyone can. All right, Flynn head back and grab the team out side to give you cover." He pressed his radio. "Major Lorne, I'm sending Captain Flynn out, she's going to meet you and you two are going to head back and fly the ships here. She'll land hers while you provide aerial cover."

"Yes Sir, I'm here waiting for her."

"Sheppard, don't you think you'd be better suited?" He turned back to McKay and glanced down at his sleeve with its continually growing red stain, and the compound fracture of Ronon's leg and sighed.

"Yes I could probably go, and yeah I'd probably be more qualified for the job, but I think this is Flynn's chance to show us what she can do. So Flynn move out, now, that's an order." She nodded her to him quickly.

"Yes Sir," she replied with a small smirk on her face directed towards McKay, who just gave her a slight, almost worried look back.

She walked out to the cave and met Major Lorne before setting off back through the woods. The sun was setting and the fighting seemed to have died down. They two solider were silent most of the trip as they trekked through the shadows. "Night falls quickly here." Wynnie observed. The older solider nodded in agreement so she continued on. "Does Dr. McKay always act like that?" He laughed.

"Like what, a know it all, obnoxious, complainer? Yeah pretty much. The first mission I ever went on with him, he insisted on wearing a hazard suite and complained about it the whole time. But he's not a bad guy, he always come through for Atlantis at almost any cost. Plus he's grown a lot now that he's been working with Sheppard."

"Yeah," she just spurted out and smiled to herself. Lorne gave her a funny look.

"Why do you wanna know?" Wynnie blushed slightly.

"No reason, I was just wondering what I have to look forward to the more I work with him." When they finally got to the jumpers they were shocked to find one of the soldiers was dead and the wiring all pulled up. To make matters worse neither one of them could see the second one.

"Something doesn't smell right about this," Lorne said looking around vigilant. Wynnie took a look at the shredded cables. Whoever pulled them out didn't have much knowledge about engineering. It was a hasty job and given an hour or so, even she, with her little training in the matter, could probably patch them together.

"Sheppard come in…" Lorne called into his radio. He waited a second for his superior officer to answer.

"Sheppard here, are you guys heading back?"

"No sir, we've ah… got a little problem here. Corporal Phelps has been killed and jumper two has been disabled." A long sigh was heard on the other end.

"Well, take Jumper one and come get us, then we can figure this out."

"That's the other problem sir, jumper one is gone…"

"Who was watching jumper one?"

"Sergeant Jameson." The radio went static and fuzz was heard on the other end. Wynnie looked up from the wires.

"Major, Jameson had the ancient gene," Wynnie affirmed.

"Do you think these people know about that, maybe he tired to get out of trouble?" Lorne asked looking at the wires and helped patch a couple together.

"Honestly, I don't know. Maybe they took the jumper with him… I'm thinking right we should patch this up so we can go get Colonel Sheppard and the others. If nothing else we can Ronon back and work out a plan to find Sergeant Jameson." The radio went off again.

"Rodney wants to know how badly the jumper is broken."

"They did a pretty poor job of trying to disable it. All of the wires can be patched together fairly easily. Flynn and I are working on it now in fact…" Line cut out as the muzzle of a gun was felt on the back of his head. Standing up slowly he looked at Wynnie who was in the same predicament, the muzzle of the gun against the back of her head. As much as she hated to show it she was scared, there were four men her, five on him. She tired to free herself and grabbed for her weapon, only to be knocked unconscious but the butt of the gun. "Colonel… We're under attack…" Was all Major Lorne was able to get out before he too was knocked unconscious?

Back in the cave Lt. Colonel Sheppard heard the radio cut out before the last message could go through. "Major Lorne? Captain Flynn, come in… What's going on?"

"Maybe the cave had blocked the signal." McKay said as he grabbed the radio from him and went to the edge of the cave. Teyla noticed Sheppard's apprehension.

"Do you think something happened?" Teyla asked concerned.

"I don't know," Sheppard answered frustrated. "I'm heading back. I've already got one solider dead, I won't have it four dead."

"Do you think you'll be able to make it? You're wounded and have been losing blood." She looked over his arm and reddened sleeve. Sheppard looked over his gash and saw the bleeding had slowed to a light trickle.

"I'll be alright." McKay walked back in and shook his head.

"I can't get the Major or Captain Flynn and it's not the radio." Sheppard sighed.

"Alright, Teyla you're coming with me, Rodney you stay with Ronon and keep him awake and alert."

"I'm coming with you." McKay said stubbornly. "I've got the life sighs detector."

"I'm perfectly capable of using the life sighs detector. Teyla and I can cover more ground quicker. You stay here."

"I'm going with you to find Captain Flynn… and Major Lorne."

"No, Teyla is going with me you stay here. Don't worry we'll find her." Sheppard gave McKay a look telling him he wasn't going to change his mind. McKay just rolled his eyes and sat down next to Ronon. Sheppard and Teyla set out towards where they landed the jumpers, hoping to find some sigh of what happened to the three missing solders.


	3. Chapter 3

**Reviews make me happy, hopeful face**. **Even if you don't review I still hope you enjoy my story.**

The smell of fresh soil crossed her nose as her senses started waking up. "M'am…" She heard a voice with a thick southern accent speaking to her. "Captain are you alright?" The voice said again. She was reluctant to open her eyes. There was something soft under her head and all she wanted to do was go back to sleep. "M'am please wake up." The voice was reluctant to go away and kept pestering her. Finally she opened her eyes and saw a young blond man looking down at her. Now she knew where Sergeant Jameson was. "Are you alright Captain?"

She sat up despite the dizziness that followed. The soft thing under her head had been a pile of dirt. She also noticed she was in a hole about ten feet by ten feet, walls of earth and sod all around her. Major Lorne was still out cold and in his boxers, complete with red hearts. In fact so was Jameson, only his were a camouflage green color. Then she looked down and saw they had taken everything but the bare minimum to cover her. That included a white tank top and a pair of lavender underwear with "The End" written across the butt in bright blue. In any other situation she would have found this rather embarrassing and possibly even amusing, but right now she was trapped and without her weapon. She noticed the egg sized lump on Jameson's head and the fact he was covered in small cuts.

"I'm fine," she finally replied to the younger man. "My head is pounding and I'm in my underwear, yeah other than that I'm just ginger peachy." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. Then she nodded to Jameson. "Did you try to climb out?" He nodded.

"Yes M'am I did try, but every time I stand up I'm overcome by dizziness. I got most of the way up but the vertigo made me fall back."

"Do you know if we're being guarded?"

"I don't think so, the only reason these people attacked us is because they are afraid. They don't really want to hurt us. Phelps tried to fight back and it was the ricochet of his own bullet that hit him. I tired to activate the radio in the jumper but some how I started the thing. I figured I may as well try to protect it, after they tired to disable jumper two, so I moved it due east exactly 50 yards away and cloaked it. Then I went back to check on Phelps, that's the last thing I remember before waking up here." She cocked her head to the side and studied the young man. He was scared. Like her, this was the first time he'd been seen any form of combat.

"Where are you from?" She asked him tried to ease some of his tension and keep him alert.

"Mississippi," he answered quietly. "I left about two years ago after my mother passed. Besides my sister, all I can think about is how much I miss sweet tea and fired catfish. Mama used to make the best fried catfish with a cornmeal breading. How about you Captain, where are you from?" She frowned inwardly.

"Well originally I'm from Illinois, but I've not been to my parent's house in nine years, since my sophomore year of college. Now my home is here I guess."

"Do you miss it?" She shook her head and laughed.

"I wish I could say I do, but no, I don't miss it. How are you doing, feeling alright?"

"When I'm sitting I feel alright. As soon as I try to stand up the world becomes bleary and disoriented."

"I'd offer you a Tylenol, but I seem to be fresh out and my ensemble doesn't have any pockets."

"Yeah they took all of my gear too. Its times like this I'm glad mymother always made me wear clean underwear." They laughed nervously as Jameson noticed Major Lorne had started stirring.

Wynnie went over to ease him up; a nasty bruise had spread from his temple turning his eye into a swollen mess. The Major struggled to open his eyes and once he did he looked her with apparent frustration.

"I thought I asked you not to wake me up early today. We're supposed to be relaxing on our vacation," he said slightly perturbed. She exchanged a worried look with Jameson who managed to make his way over.

"Major," she asked questioningly. "Where are we?" He looked her over as if she were the one who said something odd.

"Were camping in Wyoming," he said as if she should know. "You promised me you'd let me sleep in late today. It's not often I get leave, and I've missed you Bethany come back to bed. Five more minutes please baby," he said laying back down. Jameson was quick to get him sitting again.

"Sir, I'm sorry but I think you should stay awake." He said to the Major apologetically.

"Who are you Sir?" Wynnie asked him and he laughed as if she were playing a game with her.

"I'm Major Marcus Lorne of the United States Air force."

"Ok good, who am I?"

"You're being silly, you're Bethany Falcon." She hesitated for a moment and exchanged a half amused glance at Jameson.

"… Who's that," she asked pointing to Jameson. Lorne shrugged.

"Park Ranger? Why are we doing something wrong?" Wynnie shook her head.

"Sir, I'm Captain Wynnie Flynn, this is Sergeant Alexander Jameson we're on a planet called Saphus." He gave her a funny look then rolled over and proceeded to vomit and blacked out again. Wynnie turned to Jameson alarmed.

"He needs a doctor badly, he's been hit hard. I'm going to try to climb out and head back to the jumper, I can take it and get Sheppard and them back here then get you guys."

"I can go with you M'am, I'm feeling alright."

"I'm sure you'll be fine but I'm not sure about the Major. We can't just leave him."

"Well we can wake him up again and get him to walk as far as he can. At least we won't be in the hole anymore."

"Alright, but how are we going to get him out?"

"Good point M'am. Are you sure your goin' be alright, they could still be out there and your weapon's gone."

"I'll be fine, don't worry I'll be stealthy. Give me a boost up, I'm light." The young sergeant stood up held himself for a moment before he proceeded to lift her up as she pulled her self up the rest of the way. "Hey we're in luck. I can actually see the gate from here." She called back down.

"Do you hear any gun fire?" He called up to her. She looked around and kept her ears open.

"It's far off, but the sun's going down," she paused for a second realizing she'd been out for almost a day, "maybe they'll hold off for the night. I just hope Sheppard and the rest are alright."

"Are you sure you'll be alright. If you give me a hand, I can get up." She shook her head.

"Once I get back to the jumper I can get a weapon and hopefully some clothing so I come back for you. Stay here." He lowered his head submissively and nodded. Wynnie slid into the trees and crouched down low. In all her years in the Air Force she never really had to use much of her ground training. Now she was happy she had it, even if she had forgotten a good portion.

Wynnie made her way back to the jumper as the last sliver of light disappeared from the horizon. She crawled inside and managed to find a blanket and vest in the darkness. A gun cocked behind her as she pawed around for a weapon. "Oh God," she sighed turning around with her hands up. "We're not trying to hurt you." She called in to the night.

"Flynn?" A voice said. It took a moment before her eyes adjusted and she studied the two forms facing her.

"Colonel Sheppard. Oh thank goodness it's you."

"What the hell happened to you guys, we've been looking for you for the past twenty hours, but we finished the repairs on jumper two?"

"Well long story short we got knocked out and captured Sir. At least that's the part of the story I can remember, However Sergeant Jameson has been found and he told me where he put jumper two."

"Is everyone alright?" Teyla asked with concern.

"Jameson and I are reasonably unhurt. He's got a minor head injury, but seems alright. I think Major Lorne is going to need some medical attention. He was hit on the head a little too hard." Wynnie said quietly as the team made their way east of the gate. She groped the air until her hands landed on something hard. She nodded to Sheppard and Teyla. They knew right away what happened and walked in to the jumper to turn off the clocking device.

"How bad is he?"

"Well he called me Bethany and told me to come back to bed. I would say he was more then a little out of it." Sheppard stared hard at her as he started the jumper. Her head was feeling fuzzy now. "How are you and Ronon?" She asked putting her hand on her head and breathing deep. Teyla gave her a worried look.

"I'm fine, Ronon is hanging in there. I'm thinking now lets just get the hell home. I've got jumper two under control; I'm going to go get Ronon and McKay. You and Teyla can take jumper one to get Major Lorne and Sergeant Jameson. I'll meet you guys back in Atlantis."

A voice made it's way in to Wynnie's unconscious mind. She woke up and found herself in a warm hospital bed in clean red scrubs. After a pondering for a moment she realized couldn't quite remember how she got there but the dull throbbing could probably help explain some of it. Major Lorne was a couple beds away still unconscious, and Sergeant Jameson was across the row reading a book with a bandage across his head. He looked up and nodded at her. She returned it with a smile.

"How are you feeling cap'n?" He asked her.

"Actually… I feel much better," she replied self assessing her condition, "how about you?"

"Itching to get out of here." He replied stretching his legs. "Dr. Beckett says I've got a minor concussion but I'll be alright. He's keeping me here for the night under observation."

"How long was I out?"

"About three hours. It was from dehydration and exhaustion. We had just returned back when Dr. Beckett made you lay down on a stretcher. You passed out cold."

"No concussion?"

"Nope, not like the Major over there. He could be out for a while. Anyway Captain I know I'll get a verbal lashing from our good doctor if I keep you from sleeping and… I'm at a good part in my book." She laughed slightly as she closed her eyes and relaxed into the soft bed. A voice that unmistakably belonged to Dr. Beckett was heard talking to someone in the hallway. It took Wynnie a moment to figure out it was Madeline. She was complaining to the fatigued doctor about not being able to see her friend. But Wynnie had already given in to deep sleep.

The next morning she woke up feeling surprisingly good. Other than some sore, aching muscles and a parched throat she was ready to get back to work. Sergent Jameson's bed was empty. He had probably been released earlier that morning. She then glanced over at the still unconscious major and gave a worried sigh. She didn't know him well, but from the little time she had spent with him she had come to respect him. He was a good man, and it sounded to her like he had a good girl waiting for him back on Earth. She knew he would be alright, but looking at him was still unnerving.

After pondering on what kind of woman would wait for her man like that, she started counting on the dots on the ceiling. It was nine hundred and forty two when she heard the door open and Dr. Beckett walked in. "How are you feeling dear?" He asked.

"I'm actually feeling pretty good, bored, but good." She replied with a sigh while turning over on her side to look at Carson. "How are the Colonel and Ronon?"

"The Colonel is alright; I put 13 stitches in his arm and lost the battle to keep him here overnight. Ronon is well. He'll be off his feet, as much as I can hope, for a couple weeks but his leg should heal nicely." He took her blood pressure and checked her vitals as he told her. "You're looking good. I'll let you go after you're finished with the bag of fluids. I thought I told you to keep yourself hydrated" He smiled at her and she looked away coyly.

"How long will that be?"

"Not to long. Don't worry my dear you'll be out soon enough. If your feeling better you're welcome to come eat some lunch with me."

"I don't know." Her reply was slow, and then she looked down and sighed. "Maybe some other time, I know Madeline must be worried about me. She feels the need to constantly be concerned about me. I fear for the children she'll have someday."

"Yes she was in here last night. She was doing all she could to try and see you but I'm afraid I couldn't let her. You all needed your rest." He glanced up at the Major and moved to him to look at his charts. "She sounds like a good friend."

"She is… she's my best friend. Actually…" she added with a frown, "she's my only friend."

"Well that I cannot believe, you're a lovely girl."

"She was my only friend in College. I was pretty reclusive, especially after my sophomore year." She stopped and hesitated for a moment as pink crept into her cheeks. She had said more than she wanted to, but Beckett looked at her to continue almost in a concerned way. "After that I never really had time to get close to people. Sure I made a few friends in training, but they all got sent to different places. Somehow, the only miracle I've ever had, Maddy and I stayed together. She's the only person I can trust. The one I can rely on whenever I need help and trust me bad luck ALWAYS seems to find me. So when need someone to bale me out, most of the time it ends up being Maddy."

"Well I've always believed that one good friend is better than a dozen mediocre ones. She did bring you this." He held up her Ipod which Wynnie grabbed for greedily.

"Oh she knows me too well. I can't live without this thing."

"I guess it's obvious you like music."

"Music is my one of my few condolences. It goes without saying I'd be lost without it. Sometimes songs can speak more than words. No matter what mood I'm in music always evens me out. It instilled intense emotions and after it passes I feel really good. You know like that. Now if you'll excuse me I fell a good dose of System of a Down is in order." She put her head phones on and turned her music up so loud Beckett could hear almost all of the words clearly. As he walked off he mumbled to himself something about going deaf by thirty five.

He knew deep down that while he was quite fond of her, Wynnie did not return his feelings. She had tip toed around every date invitation he offered. She was rather shy and unsure of herself when it came to human interaction, but he found that almost endearing.

After turning her Ipod from hard rock to the light sounds of Norah Jones she started thinking about Dr. Beckett. She could tell that he like her. But somehow whenever he asked her out she couldn't say yes. It was true that most girls would jump at the chance to date him; he was incredibly smart, charming, and cute as could be with an absolutely adorable accent. Still, she could not bring he self to care for him as anything more than a friend. Even caring for him as a friend was a big step for her. It was not often she could let a man get anything closer than an acquaintance, someone she was nice to and got along with, but nothing more. While she was always friendly to men, even if she was rather sarcastic, she was afraid of being hurt. Wynnie always felt unsure of herself around them.

Beckett let her out before noon and Wynnie ran right to the shower. She was barely out before a knock was heard at her door. "It's open," she called out while wrapping a towel around her self. The door opened and McKay walked in. She turned around and screamed. "Holy crap! Dr. McKay… I thought you were Madeline. She was the only one who knew I was out." He turned beet red and turned around embarrassed.

"Damn it… Flynn… I'll come back later…" He stuttered taking a quick peak at her body.

"It's alright hold on. Oh for God's sake McKay turn around," She ran into her bathroom and threw on a tee shirt and a pair of sweatpants. "Okay, what's up?" He turned around and looked up cautiously. After a sigh of relief, his face turned back to its normal shade.

"I… I just wanted to see how you were doing. But now that I know you're okay, I'm just going to go." He said quickly then hesitated while standing there for a second waiting for Wynnie to ask him to stay a little longer. "Well I guess I'm going now."

"Thanks for checking up on me." A timid smile made its way across her face and her cheeks blushed slightly.

"I was going to help Sheppard search for you, but he thought I would be better helping Ronon."

"He was hurt pretty bad and needed you more than I did."

"You saved my life back there, the least I could have done was to help rescues you."

"Rescue me… I'm about as far from a damsel in distress as you are from prince charming." He turned red again.

"No that's not what I meant… hey wait a minute; I can be charming if I want to be."

"Right and crocodile can be cuddly. Don't worry no one's perfect. I like you not because you're charming but because you're honest, and I don't know maybe there is a little boyish charm there. But maybe that's just the awkwardness." Wynnie was now the one turning bright red. "You know what Maddy's probably waiting for me, I should get going. But thank you for checking up in me." She rushed out quickly leaving McKay standing in her room stunned and completely unsure of what had just happened.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N still going, I may add some wumping in... we'll see.**

McKay stumbled to lunch half looking for Wynnie, half still questing if she had just expressed interest in him or not. He ran into Sheppard on his way. "Heading to lunch?" Sheppard asked him.

"Yeah, how's your arm?" McKay asked in reply.

"It's good, nothing big. Hey I'll join you for lunch. Teyla's already there."

"Sure… great." He said staring off into space not really listening to what his friend was saying.

Sheppard waved his hand in front of McKay's face. "Hello…" McKay looked up and gave Sheppard and angry look.

"What…"

"Nothing you look as if you left your brain in the lab again. You all right?"

"For your information I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I was working on an extremely important project. I'm starving and I'll pass out soon if I don't get something to eat." Sheppard just shrugged and walked with his friend to the commissary. As soon as McKay entered he spotted Wynnie. Immediately his eyes scanned her over as she was talking with her friend. A small smile broke over his face as Sheppard tried intently once again to get his attention.

"Rodney! Are you sure you're alright? You're actually being quite, I mean I'm enjoying the silence, but it's not normal."

"I told you I'm just tired," McKay snapped back. Sheppard's eyes followed his to the small form of Wynnie, and a grin spread over his face.

"I though you only liked blonds?" He questioned, knowing how much his friend liked a certain Major.

"I do like blonds, but red heads aren't bad either," McKay looked up startled. "And I don't like her, she just intrigues me." Sheppard shook his head while laughing.

"Alright, I guess I shouldn't tell you that back on Saphus you wouldn't stop radioing me asking if we had found her yet. I had to turn the damn thing off so no one would find our position. Don't forget you were fighting with Beckett to go in and see her."

"I just wanted to make sure she was alright."

"Right…and you are concerned about people you don't like?"

"Sheppard… Stop being a dick." In the back of his head McKay knew his friend was right. Truth be told he had been spending more and more time thinking about the petite, cinnamon haired girl, with her sharp olive eyes that were now glancing up at him. She looked away immediately as McKay gave her a half smile. "Okay maybe I think she's cute, but that's all. She's kind of scary. I've seen her punching the bag in the gym, it never stood a chance. She beat the crap out of it; solid as a rock. I'll admit she is rather feisty, but I don't know, she's not really my type."

"Come on she's perfect for you, she actually is here, now, and not just a fantasy in your mind. You two seem to have a lot in common based just on that… well… except maybe the fit part."

"Hey I've gotten better. Also I'm smarter than she is, I mean she's not stupid but she's not nearly as smart as me or the stunning Samantha Carter." Sheppard rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"She is cute, you should talk to her." He got an evil look in his eye, "maybe I should invite her and the beautiful Lt. Darius to sit with us." Sheppard walked over to the two girls and flashed a smile. He pulled the chair out and glanced over Madeline; even if he was a taken man, one glance couldn't hurt. He turned his gaze to Wynnie. "I was wondering if you two ravishing ladies would like to join Dr. McKay and me for lunch. I believe we will be joining the lovely Teyla Emmagan," he said pretending to be a perfect gentleman. Madeline flashed her runway smile at him and elbowed Wynnie in the side.

"Yes we would love to join you for lunch," she replied. Wynnie shot her friend a nasty stare and then looked up at Sheppard.

"Thank you Colonel, but Lt. Darius and I were leaving." Madeline looked annoyed.

"Excuse me a moment… please," she turned to her friend. "Wynnie, what do you think you are doing," she growled in a low tone, "the hottest guy in the city just asked us to lunch and you turn him down. Hun, he's gorgeous."

"First of all Maddy," she said in a whisper, "you gorgeous Colonel is currently involved with Dr. Weir, and from the looks of things he is not willing to stray from her. Second he is eating with Dr. McKay… the very same Dr. McKay I happened to have a minute, itsy bitsy crush on, which I stupidly let slip… to him. I mean I can't look at him with out turning… maroon. Please I beg you, let's just leave." Madeline sighed and gave her friend a motherly smile.

"Alright, I've got your back." Madeline and Wynnie smiled innocently at Sheppard. "We are both very sorry Colonel, but my dear friend here is right. We must be going, we've got plans." Sheppard nodded to them as they gathered their things and hurried out of the cafeteria. Madeline turned to her friend and giggled. "You are crazy you know that. How can you like that Dr. McKay when you have the gorgeous Colonel to lust after. Or even the cute Scottish guy, Beckett. He really likes you, but no you go for the scary sarcastic one."

"Okay for one I'm sarcastic. Alright look any normal girl would have accepted Dr. Beckett's invitations at once, but you know as well as I do I'm not normal."

"You can say that again." Wynnie sighed at her friend and grinned.

"Well I can't say anymore about you. You think you were put here to just-- mother everyone. I can see it now… don't forget your woolly socks, put on a sweater or you'll get cold. I mean God help your children."

"Hey just because you lack common sense don't mean everyone else does. You're the only one I need to nurture, I'm sure my kids will be smart enough to fend for themselves." Wynnie stuck her tongue out at her friend and they laughed. "Well since you already seem to be planning our evening, what do you want to do now?"

"Well first I've got a post release check up with Beckett, but then I'm thinking I need a good dose of McDreamy." Madeline nodded enthusiastically.

"I can't say no to a good healthy dose of _Grey's Anatomy_. However, I can't stay out to late dear; I've got my first mission in the morning. But hey I've got a question, don't you think it's weird that that _Grey's Anatomy's_ McDreamy has the same last name as my McDreamy. I think its fate, my favorite show… my favorite guy." Wynnie rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"They're spelled differently, but I'll let you believe what you want." She giggled to herself as she walked off towards the hospital.

The next day Wynnie was allowed to sleep in, meaning she got to get up a 0600 as opposed to 0430. She was assigned to SGA-6 as the jumper pilot under the command team leader Lt. Colin Myles. The previous pilot had been killed in combat a couple weeks before she had arrived. They went over briefing and some strenuous team training before being let go for the evening. To put it lightly Lt. Myles was a hard ass who had to have everything flawless. He was a former marine who took his job quite seriously and Wynnie was having a hard time taking orders from a man with a lower rank than her own. She accepted he had more experience than her in the city, but didn't like it none the less. But he did his job well and to this day still only has one fatality from his team. After training Wynnie's first thought was to look for Madeline, but she knew her friend had been sent off world on a mission, so she set off for the cafeteria alone.

Sheppard and McKay were just sitting down to eat when McKay was caught looking Wynnie eating by herself. "I bet a two mile jog tomorrow, you can't go up and talk to her." Sheppard said picking at his dinner.

"I can talk to her, I just don't feel like getting up right now. She looks busy."

"I'll double that," A voice behind them said. McKay looked up to see Ronon leaning on his crutches.

"So I see Beckett finally let you out." Sheppard noted causally. Ronon nodded as Teyla came up behind him holding two trays of food.

"How can you bet me four miles, you can't even run," McKay asked.

"No, but I think you need a good run. I'll go double you can't talk you her."

"I'll go eight miles if you ask her out to a nice evening around the city and she agrees," Sheppard added in. "You can probably get Zelenka to give you some of his moonshine to help encourage her to say yes."

"Alright but when she says yes Sheppard's running eight miles tomorrow and Ronon… you can't eat any of my chocolate stash for one week."

"Deal," he agreed in a gruff voice. McKay stood up and took a deep breath. He then hesitated and glanced at Teyla who smiled encouragingly at him.

"Okay here it goes." McKay walked over to the table were Wynnie was reading a book. "He…Hello Captain Flynn, Wynnie, how are you." She looked up and glared at him before her gaze soften slightly.

"Hello Rodney, I'm well how about you," she replied with a sigh

"Errr… I'm good, busy, but good."

"That's good…" She smiled waiting for McKay to continue.

"I was just wondering if you would maybe like too… go for a walk with me around the city… that is if you're not busy." He face turned a deep shade of crimson as hers turned maroon.

"Ooohhh," she sputtered and thought about it for a moment. McKay looked at her with an almost hopeful face, though he wasn't sure if it was because he didn't want to run eight miles of if he really wanted her to say yes.

"It could be kind of fun, I may even get Zelenka to give me some of his moonshine."

"Wait you have access to real alcohol? Well I guess a little walk around wouldn't hurt. Just don't keep me out to late." He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Sheppard and Ronon and grinned. Wynnie gathered her things and walked off with McKay. "You know you're lucky. If you had caught me when Madeline was here I would probably have said no. But I guess I need to get out of my shell."

"Yeah, I guess I don't get out much either. I'm either out on a mission of working in the lab. I always have to fix everyone else's problems so I'm very busy."

"Ah a workaholic I see. I like to work hard but I play hard too." He nodded slightly.

"What do you like to do in your spare time? You know besides take offence to everything everyone says to you." She laughed at him.

"I like music so I try to go to a lot of concerts. Mostly I go to the bar with my squad and every now and then Maddy gets me out clubbing. I can't dance so I end up sitting at the bar drinking way too much, while I watch her dance with every possible guy in the place, gay or straight. What about you?"

"Before I came here most of my nights were spent at home with my cat. I'd work out physics problems. You know genius stuff." He laughed embarrassed but she smiled warmly at him.

"There's nothing wrong with taking work home." They walked out on to one of the balconies and Wynnie looked up at the breathtaking sky. "Oh wow it's beautiful out here. Quite honestly I've been here close to two weeks now and I've not been outside here. The stars are so bright." She looked up at McKay.

"With the exception of the Wraith, this galaxy is quite beautiful. Most of the planets are simple, but working with them makes me feel like I'm actually doing something. Plus they all make me feel superior over them, not that I don't feel that way most of the time."

"Oh really?" She said looking skeptical.

"Well I am a certified genius."

"You're also a certified prick, but you know what, I'm okay with that. Just don't try and talk to me about physics. I barley passed it in college and I will be no means understand it now."

"I'm sorry to hear that." He laughed. She smiled as his hand brushed hers.

"What are you thinking about?"

"The distance the light from these stars had to travel to get here at 3.0x108 m/s."

"Oh… that sucks, you've got boring thoughts." She said sarcastically as his hand finally grasped hers.

"Well you know what my field is, so… what did you study in College?"

"I studied Neuroscience at Northwestern University. It was a part of the psychology program."

"Yeah? What did you want to do?" She sighed at looked at him shyly.

"I wanted to be a brain surgeon. You know one of those people who saves the person when all else fails. I couldn't cut it. I mean I got decent grades in college but not enough to get me into med school. I tired obsessively but when it came down to it I wouldn't have been a good doctor anyway. I can't deal well with people, I mean I get along with them, but I don't know, hospitals make me uncomfortable anyway." She started feeling exposed to him but like talking to Dr. Beckett, something told her to trust him. It was time she gave Madeline a break and let someone else have a peak at her heart.

"So you joined the Air Force?"

"If just seemed like the right thing to do, it turned out I was right. I took to the skies like a fish to water. It was probably the best decision I've ever made." She smiled at him and looked him over. He had been asking so many questions but he seemed genuinely interested. "How about you, what made you come to Atlantis?"

"It's my life's work, studying how the ancient's technology worked. Living in this magnificent city built by them and learning about them is a dream come true. I've discovered more in the couple years I've been here than I could have on Earth."

"Didn't you leave anyone behind?"

"No, like you I mostly kept to myself. I have my sister but I rarely talked to her. I think if I ever make it back to earth I would like to try talking to her again. I think she's got a family. I don't know anymore. My family is here now." He brushed a stay hair from her face. Wynnie shivered slightly in the cool air. "What about your family." She hesitated slightly and smiled sadly.

"I don't talk to them anymore. Well I think maybe once a year I may hear from my father but I've not spoken with my mother in nine years. The only person I really talked to was my brother. But…" she shook her head… "but he died four years ago."

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that."

"My too, my mother wouldn't even let me go to the funeral."

"What happened between you and your parents?" Her eyes widened.

"It's getting late I should go the bed." She pulled her hand free and ran off, McKay made a move to go after her but she was long gone. He stood for a moment as he watched her small back turn the corner and made his way to Sheppard's room.

"I know I know I owe you eight miles tomorrow," Sheppard said as he opened the door to see McKay's crestfallen face. "What happened?"

"I blew it. She ran off after I asked about her parents."

"You asked about her parents?" Sheppard exclaimed. "You don't ask about family until at least the third date no wonder she got scared."

"Well she asked about mine! I just though it was an open subject."

"On first dates you stick to small talk, hobbies, music, favorite animals, you know stuff like that."

"I'm not as experienced as you are at dating." He said venomously. "You know it's true I was beginning to like her. She's normally so closed off I just thought she was opening up."

"With women you don't ask questions about personal stuff you wait for her to reveal more information, only ask the basics to sound like you're interested."

"Right and you know so much about rejection. Women practically throw themselves at your feet?" McKay stated skeptically.

"You may not believe it but I've had drinks shoved into my face my fair share of unrequited love. You live and learn with women." He stretched out his arms over his head and just shook his head with a grin. "Give her a couple days and try again with I guess what counts for you as charm."

"Doesn't anyone here believe I can be charming? I can be quite romantic if I want to be just ask my old girlfriend from college."

"You had a girlfriend in college?"

"No, not really, I was tutoring her and I bought her a glass of wine once. She was really pretty with long blond hair and bright eyes. But that's beside the point if I really wanted to I could… you know… be romantic. I mean all it takes are some flowers and music." Sheppard rolled his eyes and shook his head at his friend.

"Good luck with that. For the record I will no be responsible for any injuries you may sustain while attempting to charm Captain Flynn." McKay just shook his head and waved Sheppard off as he walked back to the lab.

After running from McKay, Wynnie waited up for Madeline to return from her mission. Even though she was near exhaustion Madeline smiled warmly as she embraced her dear friend and listened to her weeping about how inept Wynnie was in love. "Honey," she said to her friend while wiping a tear away. "I think you're going to scare him off faster if you don't tell him. I he really likes you he will accept it."

"But my mother still cannot accept and forgive me, how can a man who I barely know accept me," she sniffed out. "I never want to talk to him again, he probably hates me now."

"Oh Wynnie, you're overreacting. He doesn't hate you and unfortunately dear, you are going to have to work with him again. Get some sleep; things will look better in the morning."


	5. Chapter 5

**Oh Gosh I'm sorry this took forever to write. I've moved three times in the past month, badly sprained my ankle, and came down with a severe case of writers block. Hopefully you all enjoy it though. The next chapters will hopefully come more quickly now that I'm settled in one location and actaully have internet connection.**

With a small amount of luck Wynnie was able to avoid McKay for a week while her team was on a mission. It was a cool morning when they returned back to Atlantis. Wynnie stood on the balcony watching the mist rise from the vast ocean. She heard the soft sound of footsteps make its way towards her but didn't look up. "It's quite peaceful here in the morning," an accented voice said to her. She looked up slightly startled and then smiled as Dr. Beckett made his way towards her.

"Carson, you're up early." She said almost questioningly. "What's up?"

"Well illness never sleeps and you missed your post mission check up."

"Did I," she said concealing a smile knowing she was trying to avoid it. "I'm sorry I must have forgotten." Beckett shook his head knowing she was lying to him.

"Oh dear, I don't want to be dealing with another Colonel Sheppard on my hands, one is quite enough. However if you don't come with me now I will be forces to report this to your team leader and I do hold the authority to ground you." Wynnie looked at him with a tired gaze. She wasn't going to fight with him so she submissively followed him to the infirmary. He checked her over and shook his head, "See that wasn't so bad was it, and you're completely fine. Although some rest wouldn't hurt ya." Wynnie giggled slightly.

"Nor you Doc, and I suppose the check up wasn't so bad." She sighed as Beckett cracked a smile. "Hey I've got an hour before I need to meet with my team to brief Dr. Weir, you wanna grab some coffee?"

"That sounds lovely." His smile widened. "So how'd your mission go?" He asked as they made they're way to the cafeteria.

"It was alright, I like the others in my team but I've been having some trouble getting along with Lieutenant Myles. He doesn't really trust me and I'm used to giving the orders not taking them. Also after this mission I'm pretty sure he hates me. Uch he got me so flustered I missed my landing site and made some errors that took a while to fix. We were late to our meeting with the towns people because of me. I just wish he's let me fly and not hang over my shoulder barking at me to double check my coordinates. I know he'll reprimand me in the debriefing."

"Well I'm sure it will get better. This was your first mission with the team and if I can recall correctly, his pilot was one of the best in our fleet so he expects a lot. Don't worry he has set the bar high, but I know you'll meet it in no time." She looked at him gratefully for the reassurance. Wynnie stirred her coffee slowly letting a comfortable silence settle.

"So how've you been Doc?" Wynnie asked breaking the silence, as Beckett started on his second cup of the bitter liquid. She wasn't quite sure how he could stand drinking it black.

"Oh I've been alright. Busy as could be expected, Major Lorne's doing quite well, he's almost fully recover from his severe concussion. At least he's stopped calling me and the nurse Bethany. Last time I checked I wasn't anywhere close to looking like a lass." Wynnie laughed loudly before covering her mouth slightly embarrassed. Carson's face fell slightly as he continued. "Also SGA-3's team came under some fire on one of their missions so I had some holes to patch up and unfortunately one of their men didn't make it." His brow furrowed in grief, and she placed her hand over his in comfort.

"Knowing you Carson, you did the best you could. That's all anyone can ask."

"I know, but it still hurts all the same. These people have become a family to me and losing family is hard." Wynnie looked down.

"Trust me I know," she whispered dejectedly. Carson looked at her questioningly but she shook her head at him and frowned. "My brother… but you don't want to know."

"Well if you say so I won't push ya. You're a lovely girl Wynnie, and I'm saying this as your friend, but I think you need to have more confidence in your self. You've got a couple guys who are quite fond of you. Maybe you can push McKay away, but I know you like him so you'll only be hurting your self."

"You know about Rodney? Oh I feel so stupid." She put her head in her hands.

"It wasn't hard to tell from the way you watch him, and I know he's interested in you. He practically tore the door to the infirmary down trying to make sure you were alright after you returned from Saphus. He's a difficult man but he can also be very caring… he just has some very odd ways of showin' it."

"I know… he just wouldn't understand..." She paused and slowly formed her words to continue. "First of all I'm not like him, he's far more intelligent and I am and frankly it kind of scares me. I barely past physics in college, and when he talks about it he may as well be speaking gibberish. But then he smiles that boyish smile and I can help smiling back." She smiled distantly then looked down embarrassed. "I've done some horrable things in my past and I know if he found out about it he'd hate me." She smiled quickly and stood up. "I'm thinking that I should make my way to Dr. Weir's office, lord knows if I'm late I'll never hear the end of it from Myles. Then I promised Maddy I'd go running with her. I'll see you later." Carson frowned knowing she was trying to push him away.

"Wynnie lass, you underestimate people. I really think you need to let your self open up. Despite what you may think everyone deserves a second chance, and you'll find most of people here are willing to accept any faults you may bring with you. Now you know I will not force you to tell me anything, just know I'll always keep my door open to listen." She contemplated this and offered him a genuine smile.

"Thank you, I'll think about it."

The debriefing went well and to Wynnie's surprise Lieutenant Myles actually commented on how well she was performing. She left Dr. Weir's office feeling unexpectedly good. The man she thought hated her with all his being actually respected her. _Maybe, she thought, I don't give people enough credit. I always thought people only liked or disliked me for what I did, not who I was. I've done some less than honorable things, but everyone here really is willing to look beyond my mistakes and take me for a good person. Maybe Carson was right, I am getting a second chance at what I thought was a broken life._


	6. Chapter 6

**Warning this chapter contains adult themes and ****Controversial** **ideas not intented for a younger audiance this is a teen rated fiction. **

After catching up on some sleep Wynnie stumbled toward Madeline's room for their jog. "Oh Wynnie I've got news for you," Madeline said opening the door. She bounded towards her friend and gave her a hug.

"It's good to see you too, and yes I'm fine and the mission went well." Wynnie answered.

"Yes I figured. Anyway I was talking too one of the scientists in the gateroom this morning…"

"Were you talking or flirting…" Wynnie looked over her friends beautiful body jealously and then looked down at her own flat chest and gangly arms. She always thought they were proportionally long to her petite form.

"TALKING," she replied adamantly while rolling her eyes, "we happened to be discussing the ANOVA statistics from one of his studies."

"Oh man I hate those…"

"Yes dear we all do…"

"No you miss psycho smarty."

"Yes Wynnie. Now if you'll let me continue, I was talking with a little flirting, he was Italian, with one of the scientists in the gateroom and I over heard Colonel Sheppard talking to some of the other gate team leaders. They were talking about letting you command your own gate team." Wynnie's eyes went wide.

"Really?"

"Something about a good report from Myles and the fact they've trained Jameson with the ship controls they want to let you command." Wynnie stood in shock for a moment before looking Madeline in the eyes and jumping up and down excitedly.

"I hope you're right. Things have been good since I got here. People actually seem to want to like me."

"Wynnie everyone's been like that you just never gave them a chance. It's not them it's you who had changed. I don't know what it is but you've seemed happier since you returned from your mission."

"I've got good friends," She replied looking warmly at her friend. Madeline smiled back and hurried her along for their run.

They had not been jogging long before Wynnie was called into Dr. Weir's office. She nodded courteously at Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard and Lieutenant Myles who were standing next to Dr. Weir who motioned for her to sit. "Captain Flynn as you know we have been running low on basic supplies and the Deadalus is not due back for another sixteen days. This leaves us with the need to once again set up trade with other planets to help us get some supplies. So with the recent demise of one of our gate teams," she paused for a second and sighed, "and the grounding of another for rest we need a new team leader. Even though you're still relatively new here, you've got a good record and," she added glancing back at the two men behind her," you were recommended, so with that we were hoping you would lead SGA-9." Although she knew this was coming Wynnie stood speechless for a second then nodded graciously.

"Of course Dr. Weir, Colonel Sheppard, I would be willing." The two women smiled gratefully at each other before Sheppard handed her a read out.

"Your scheduled to go in two days, these are these are your men here, Sergeant Kael Oryna Army, Lieutenant James Bestin Army, and Lieutenant Nelson Brickman Air Force, I believe you both arrived together. They're a pretty good team, Oryna has gene abilities so if you get in trouble or can't fly, he's able to, but well to put it lightly he lacks finesse. Bestin's good at tight situation, impeccable aim, and Brickmen's solid. They shouldn't give you any problems Captain. This is your gate address on top and a list of goods we hope to get. Admittedly we are not very familiar with the plane so play it by ear and get what you can."

"Yes sir," she replied as she left, "Thank you." She hurried out to meet Madeline who gave her a huge hug. The pair of them continued their jog before hitting the showers and grabbing dinner.

After dinner the two friends parted ways and Wynnie found herself making her way to McKay's lab with a note she had made for him. She knocked on the door and a fluster McKay answered slightly taken back. "Flynn how are you?"

"It's Wynnie if you don't mind," she said with a smile trying to be casual, "I'm fine." He motioned for her to come in. "Are you busy?"

"I'm always busy." He didn't even bother looking up. But she sat down at watched him for a moment.

"What are you working on?"

"The basics I'm trying to read some of these files and decipher some of this technology. The Ancients have technology we are just beginning to understand and we still haven't mapped out this who city." Wynnie nodded intently and he glanced up at her.

"I went for a jog with Madeline." He nodded his head and looked up at her, "and I talked to Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Weir, I'm going to lead SGA-9 on a gate mission." Her eyes brightened as she said this but McKay didn't seem impressed.

"That's good," he answered turning his attention back to the piece of machinery on his desk. She looked around and sat silent for a second.

"Well I guess you're busy," she said coolly and McKay just turned and looked at her.

"What do you want me to say, great, wonderful? I really don't know what else to say, last time I tried to talk to you about anything you ran off on me. I'm just preventing myself from further awkwardness. I tried to be friendly and yes I admit I liked you, but you rejected that. It's a fool who tried the same failed experiment over and over again expecting a different result."

"Well maybe you should reexamine your hypothesis. Its true Rodney, some irrational part of me actually has feelings for you. Despite my best interest and the advice of others I still like you. But there are just something that you wouldn't understand."

"Try me. I can process large amounts of information." Wynnie looked right at him with her eyes blazing; he actually flinched to momentarily escape her gaze.

"Do you want to know what happened between me and my parents? Do you really want to know?" Her voice was chocked up as she practically screamed at him. McKay didn't know what to say just sat down under her fiery stare. "Alright fine I'll tell you. My mother disowned me because when I was in college I had an abortion and can no longer have children… ever. That's right an abortion. My wonderfully Christian mother who could do no wrong, ripped me from my family wouldn't even let me back in the house to gather my belongings." Tears were pouring down her cheeks. McKay looked stunned.

"What… happened." He didn't know how to respond or what else to say. He wasn't even sure he was the right person she should be telling this too.

"I went to a very strict, all girls, Christian school. My father was a guidance consular for the school, my mother worked at our church as our priest's secretary. I was raised in a good, loving, nurturing home and life was great really great. I was loved everything about my childhood and I actually loved my high school and going to church every Sunday. I had this personal relationship with God and everything was really great… until I left for college. I went the usual route of oh my gosh my parents aren't here any more and started to try new things. The major change was now there were boys. I was friends with quite a few boys in my church group but they all had the same morals I had. Now there were boys around who drank, smoked and had sex. I even joined the Christian fellowship and groups like that on campus but I wasn't the same.

In the beginning of my sophomore year I met this guy in my group who I thought was amazing and we started dating. To make this long story shorter, one night we went back to my room and he asked me if I loved him. Please remember I was young and this was the first guy I had ever dated. I told him yes of coarse I loved him and he pulled the if you really loved me you'll have sex with me. At first I was appalled and carefully explained to him that I had made a promise to myself and Jesus that I would wait until marriage for sex. He pressed again but I firmly said no. Then he asked if we could just fool around for a while, no sex, and I didn't think there was any harm in that so I agreed. I'm not sure what happened next, but we were both naked and he pushed me on the bed and started kissing me everywhere. It was exhilarating, the first time I'd done anything like this, but then he started getting more physical and before I knew it he…" She paused embarrassed, tears still streaming down her face and continued. "Well you know, despite my best intentions we started having sex and I didn't protest it. In fact I kind of liked it so I didn't say anything. But after we were done I became mortified and disgusted with myself. I had made a promise to my self to GOD, that I was going to let myself wait, but I broke that promise. I sat there and cried to myself while my boyfriend tried to comfort me, tell me it was natural and normal what happened, but I forced him out. Well a couple weeks later I found out I was pregnant. The first person I told was my brother, he understood and listened while I told him what happened. He went through the options with me but couldn't do anything else; he was older than me and had his own family to worry about. I told my boyfriend but he ran away while throwing money at me, telling me to get an abortion. I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't tell my parents they would have KILLED me. So I though it was best to try and make it as if nothing happened, so I went to the clinic and did what I had to. But the clinic screwed up and something happened that shouldn't have but they left me bleeding. I didn't realize anything was wrong until I got on the bus to go home and I passed out.

I woke up a week later in the hospital and the doctors told me due to the scare tissue I would never be able to have children again. Everyone knew what had happened. My mother refused to even come in to my room; it was my poor brother who sorrowfully told me that my parents were removing all my belongings from the house and that I was never able to come back.

Then four years ago… my father called telling me he forgave me, but that I was dead to my mother, she even wrote down the day I had my abortion in our family bible… as the day I died. Two days later my brother was killed in a car wreck and I wasn't permitted to attend the funeral. It was devastating. You asked you wanted to know, that's why I never speak to my family again. And now you'll hate me just as they do. If my mother can't accept it I can't expect anyone else too." She looked at McKay who looked bewildered and shockingly sympathetic. His mouth opened a couple times before shaking his head.

"I… I'm sorry I didn't know." He handed her a tissue before continuing. "If it makes you feel any better I don't hate you, and I honestly don't think any less of you. I've made horrible mistakes in my past we all have. The truth is I think if you can forgive your self people will understand." He silently recalled his incident where he blew up ¾ of a solar system. It took a long time before people could start trusting him again. "I'm not a religious man myself so I can't make any judgments on that, but your still a good person. Scientifically it was a clump of cells with no hope of survival without you it wasn't a baby."

"That what I think now, after this whole ordeal I became… well not so much atheist but more agnostic. I still feel that there is a higher being I can't shake that, I just don't feel like he really cares about us or if he does, can't really do anything about it." She was still sniffling and drying the tears from her eyes but had calmed down significantly. At least she was no longer screaming at McKay. Then she looked up at him with red eyes "You really don't hate me?"

"No not at all. However I will admit I'm kind of surprised you told me all this. I'm not one people normally come to confide in and I can't give you advice or anything."

"I'm surprised I told you as well." Wynnie took a deep breath and wiped her nose. "The only other person who I ever told about this was Maddy. She was the one I ran to after it happened, well besides my brother who finished putting me though school. God I miss him. But Maddy she's my rock, who else would sit with me while I cry myself to sleep because I was so homesick, and guilt stricken? She made me take one day at a time and pour my focus in to school and sports. Slowly she started taking me out and got my at least partly back to normal." Confused and sympathetic, he responded by pulling her into a tentative hug. Girls liked hugs right? He thought to himself, but it seemed to be working she was quiet and comfortable. He knew how to deal with almost any physical problem but emotions were not something he knew about. Uncertain of himself he pulled back and looked her over. She had calmed down and now just looked exhausted.

"Why don't I put you to bed and maybe you could talk to Dr. Heightmeyer tomorrow."

"Rodney, I took psychology, maybe not to the extent she has but I pretty much know everything she's going to tell me." It was slightly defensive. She sighed and looked him square in the eye. "I told this to you, because… well basically because you pushed to me tell you, but I didn't want to push away anymore. I've been forcing people away for a long time now and just being here has giving me a way to rethink things over. Rodney I… well I trust you." He smiled and took her hand while walking towards her room.

"I think you should get some sleep." They stopped at her room and he opened and led her in. With big eyes she turned to him.

"Stay with me? Please at least until I fall a sleep. I wasn't lying when I told I trusted you."

**I had some trouble writing this chapter because I wanted to be senstive to people's feelings and ideas. I just want to let people know that ideas expressed by the characters are not nessassarly the beliefs of the author. Anyone experiancing any of problems should talk to a professional or someone they trust who can help.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yay people are reviewing. It's good to see people reading this story. I don't know why but Wynnie had really grown on me as a character. So hopefully you will all like her as much as I do. In a week or two I may pull this off the sigh briefly to do some maintenance on it. **

Three tall men towered over Wynnie as she briefed her team about their mission. Oryna was the shortest with his sandy head standing about eight inches above Wynnie, who was only five feet two inches. It was almost silly to see the shorter women addressing them so dignified, but each one of them respected her as the team leader.

She gave the team twenty minutes before their departure to gather their gear and thoughts before meeting back in front of the gate. Wynnie used this time to find McKay who was grabbing a quick bite to eat before heading into the gateroom. She knew him well and found him quickly. "Rodney…" She called making her way over to where his was sitting. "Hey I just wanted to talk to you before I left."

"I'm here," He replied looking up at her a little. She sat down next to him and scooted closer so her hand was resting right next to his. "How are you?" He asked noticing her hands were shaking slightly.

"Good… I'm good, a little anxious about his mission but I'm sure everything will be alright. How are you?"

"Tired but good"

"Good."

"You said you wanted to talk to me?" Wynnie laughed and nodded.

"I can't get anything past you can I?"

"No, I'm a genius."

"So I've been told. Yes well it wasn't so much talk I wanted to give you this…" She paused briefly and smiled shyly before giving him a quick peck on the lips and blushed. "Thank you for being there for me the other night." She turned to go before McKay grabber her hand and kissed her on the forehead.

"It was nothing really. Good luck you'll be fine. If I can survive gate missions you'll kick some proverbial ass."

"Thank you Rodney."

After talking briefly to Madeline and Beckett, Wynnie made her way back to the gateroom prepared for the mission. She quickly nodded to her team and waved good bye to Dr. Weir, who was watching them depart through the event horizon. When they got through the other side all that was visible was a large expanse of prairie with mountains in the distance, but behind them was a magnificent walled city. "I think we found the right spot." Brickman commented as they all gazed upon the gleaming marble walls.

"I feel like I just step into ancient Rome," Oryna said in awe.

"This place is beautiful." Wynnie agreed. "Common guys I think I see the gate entrance."

"Yes Ma'am," they replied as they made their way into the city. The inside of the city was more magnificent then the outside. Marble fountains rose up from a deserted boulevard and large houses with lush courtyards lined them. Everyone seemed to be in awe of the large city that was seemingly untouched by Wrath destruction. Each person had their own ideas about how it stayed so pristine that no one noticed a woman wearing a flowing gown came forward cautiously.

"Welcome to Rnalyon, our leaders saw you come though the ring of the ancients. My name is Gela please follow me." She lead them though a marketplace to a palace that stood towards the west edge of they city. It was a white and solid like many of the other buildings of the city. She led them past the stone guards at the gate and up to a vast room covered in intricate tapestries and fine woolen rugs. "My brother, King Lero, requests an audience with you." They were brought forward to a group of men.

"Gela you may leave now." The broad shouldered man at the top of the assembly said in low rumbling voice. She curtsied without even looking at him and quickly and hurried out. Wynnie noticed that she didn't look at him once, and when she was addressing her team she wouldn't look at the men either. Then he turned to the team. "Your servant may leave as well." They looked at each other confused. "Your WOMAN." He spat the word out as if it were poison on his tongue.

"Excuse me," Wynnie said looking at him with fierce eyes, "I'm Captain Wynnie Flynn and I am the leader of this expedition. Sir, with all do respect, we come have come here from our planet, negotiate trade with you."

"I'll will be addressed as King Lero, and you woman, a lesser, do not have the right of addressing me at all. If trade is what you wish I shall take it up with these fine gentlemen behind you. Now as guest in my city I have been more than polite to you but I will not tolerate insubordination from a woman."

"Woman or not I should not be treated differently then the rest of my team. I've have worked far too hard not to."

"SILANCE one more out burst from you, guest or not, I will have you punished. I will not tolerate this."

Wynnie looked at her team helpless, she was supposed to set up negotiations but he wanted nothing to do with her. In a split decision she looked right at Sergeant Oryna.

"Oryna, you have the most off world experience, you're my second. Please speak to him, we need goods. I refuse to return empty handed, but I fear I may compromise this mission if I talk to him again. If anything I can make myself useful finding more out about this remarkable city." He nodded his sandy head and looked up at the king.

"King Lero, with all do respect, our planet is very different then yours, our captain here speaks the truth, she is the leader of our team and in order to successfully complete our mission she is willing to stand down. However my other team members and I will not let this disrespect of our team to continue there are many other planets we can trade with. We just thought your city could profit most from the goods we are willing to offer. As we would benefit greatly from your goods"

"Your going to let your self be controlled by a lesser? I pity your planet, it will probably be destroyed soon. Very well I shall think about this, I will meet with you and the other two men in the morning. Now you will all attend my feast tonight and the lesser can come as well, however I will not allow her to wear men's clothing. A proper outfit shall be delivered to your quarters. Gela will show you to your rooms. She will be your servant while you're here." He spoke directly to the men and proceeded to ignore Wynnie. Gela hurried in and spoke to the group with down cast eyes.

"Please gentlemen… follow me," the she turned to Wynnie, "I must put you in the lady's quarters. I am sorry." They hurried through the palace before reaching a large door. Gela quickly presented the men to their lavish room filed with goose down quilts and feather beds, and let them in. In haste she had the bowls filled with odd looking fruits and sheet on the beds turned down. "If it pleases you, I will show your woman to her quarters."

"There's room here she can stay with us," The team said but Gela fearfully shook her head.

"No she can't. Women are not permitted to stay in gentlemen's quarters unless directly called for or sent by their owner."

"Owner?" Brickman questioned, "it sounds like your slaves." She looked helpless at him.

"Yes… If this pleases you, may I show your woman to her room?"

"Yes please." She curtsied quickly and hurried out. Gela took Wynnie to a back part of the palace and showed her into a tiny room with a straw mattress and thin blanket.

"I guess this isn't the Hilton," Wynnie said sarcastically. Gela looked confused.

"My room is right next door. These are the best woman's quarters in the city." The Gela looked up at Wynnie. "I'm sorry if this is not what you're used to but the punishment for a woman to live above this could be death, depending on what her owner decided to do. You must understand we are slaves to the men and have no rights. This is the life we are born in to. When we are fourteen our fathers put us up for auction in the market place, then our owners may then do as the please with us. We are no better then the beasts that are used to pull the plows. Many of us have accepted this as our fate."

"What about you, have you accepted this fate?" Gela hesitated.

"I am very lucky to have been kept by my brother. I get treated far better than the other women and even get time to myself and access to books. Despite how he comes off my brother is actually quite kind unlike most of the other men he allows us to learn to read, though he would never admit it. However, I have been failing in my duty. My brother wants a son and he shares me with many of the men in his court in hopes that I will conceive for him a strong heir but I have only given him a daughter. I was lucky to keep her, many times giving birth to a daughter to an owner is grounds for punishment. Often the mother of child is sent away or killed, but my brother allows me to visit her once a week.

"You only get to see her once a week?"

"It is most kind. As I said my brother is just but even he must stick to the ancient code. Even if he wanted to give us more rights he is honor bond to up hold the traditions. If he doesn't the rocks will lose their protection and out city would be lost to the Wraith. Please do not compromise our safety." Wynnie nodded slowly. "Then I will leave you to your thoughts. My brother requests your presents at the feast tonight a gown will be brought to you with in the hour."

The gown was emerald green and much to Wynnie surprised it looked quite pretty on her. Gela came in told her that her gentlemen requested her presents so Wynnie hurried over to meet with her team.

"Woo woo," Oryna called as jokingly as Wynnie walked in, "You look lovely Captain." The last part he was he said quite seriously. Wynnie shook her head and hid her smile.

"I fear you have been here to long Sergeant," She replied back. "We should leave quickly. I don't want to be around when you all turn back in to apes." She laughed slightly as the other smiled. "Anyway, this is our plan. Tonight engage the king in conversations and just mention some of the things we can exchange, like medicines and clothing, for some of the fruits and grains here. They have some beasts that they slaughter for meat, we need to try and get in on some of that too. Also, this is my own curiosity, Gela had mentioned that the stones of the city protect it from the Wraith, maybe you can find out about that. If they have technology to keep them away we need to know about it."

"Yes Ma'am."

"I will do my best to not anger anyone and try to as Gela said, hold my place. I'm sorry I can't help you guys more, but keep in contact. I'll have my radio with me at all times. If anything happens I'll be right there."

"Captain," Bestin started, "Don't worry I'm sure everything will be fine."

The team was escorted to the where they had met with the king earlier. Only now the room was filled with large tables piled with different food, many of which the team did not recognize. Large men surrounded each table and they were all laughing hartily until they walked in. Everything got silent before the king stood up.

"Honored guests and members of my court, please welcome the gentlemen from the rings of our ancients. They come to us with offers of trade please honor them well." The men were quickly seated at the high table with the king while Gela took Wynnie to small table in the corner where all the women of the king sat.

Gela often got up to make sure her brother was comfortable and that his drink glass was always full in doing this she over head the team talking to the king. "King Lero we can offer you very powerful medicines for you people." Oryna spoke while taking a drink.

"Really, that would be useful. We are a very clean city however, many fevers do come along. I shall have to have my physician look at your medicines. What else can you offer me? It would put a great strain on our cities resources to give you some of our meat. The fruits and grains are very plentiful, but our meat is precious." He thought for a moment. "I am captivated by your woman; she is very strong and would produce a hearty son. I would be willing to trade you a months supply of my meat for her.

"She is not for sale," Brickman answered quickly.

"Oh pish, she's only a woman you could easily get another. Oh well it was worth a shot. What about some of your weapons, they are very remarkable. I shall like to have one for my collection. I do not have any likes those."

"Our weapons are not for trade either. Like your meat they are very precious, we only make enough for trained fighters to have them. They are strictly for protection."

"Against the Wraith," Bestin added. The Kings face grew cold.

"Yes the Wraith."

"Your majesty with all do respect," Bestin asked, "how do you protect your city from the Wraith?"

"Our walls and rocks protect us. Since this city has been built no on in it's walls have been touched. Legend says that the Wraith came soon after our first Queen took the thrown. She was cruel and ruthless so the gods created the wraith to destroy her. But she had already corrupted our fair city so all the citizens had to go as well. It is because of the women that the Wraith come. So we must keep them contained. However we are also prepared to protect our selves. When the marble was dug for this city it created a series of tunnels underneath it so we can hide and the Wraith's beams cannot penetrate the rocks. We have someone watching the ring at all times, we know that it is six minutes from the time the ring opens to when they reach the city, that is just enough time to find an entrance to the caves. As long as we keep our city dominated by men, who do not anger the gods as the women do, our caverns will always be safe."

"That is fascinating."

"Yes we are blessed by our gods, our people are pleased." The men continued to disscuess trade while Wynnie sat with the women who ate almost silently, before being sent away. As soon as Wynnie reached her quarters Gela hurried in.

"We need your help, I head that you people have medicines and one of our ladies is very ill. She was down in caves today but when she came up she fainted and is now spiking a high fever. Women can't go to the hospital so we must take care of our own. Please help." Gela led her to a small barn where a girl was laying shivering on the ground with a blanket. Wynnie had no medical experience and looked down helpless. The girls fever was very high, and she could see a rash forming on her skin.

"Gela I'm sorry I don't know what to do," she paused and thought quickly while taking note of all the symptoms, "but I know someone who does. I'll be back by morning."


	8. Chapter 8

**School stress is killing me right now but I had to post. Next chapter will have some more Rodney, and possibly some more romance. Sigh... back to my Marine Bio paper if anyone wants to know about adaptaions in sponges due to high wave energy let me know. It's so interesting, (voice is dripping with scarcasim).**

She told her team what was going on and hurried towards the gate. "We've got gate action," the scientist called. Dr. Weir looked confused.

"We're not expecting anyone right now, raise the shields."

"Ma'am its Captain Flynn's IDC."

"Let her though." Her voice was tinged with worry. She knew SGA-9 wasn't due back for another day at the least. "Captain what's going on is everything alright?" The shorter woman looked up fluster.

"I need Dr. Beckett." Panic rose through the air as Colonel Sheppard made his way to the gate room.

"Is your team hurt?" He asked. Wynnie let out her breath and shook her head.

"No my team is safe but one of the girls in the city is not and I promised to help her."

"Why can her people take her to a hospital?" Dr Weir asked looked confused and almost angry now. She had started panicking for no reason. Wynnie sighed and explained what was going on, about the women in the city and how she was not allowed to participate in the trade negotiations. "Alright," Dr Weir finally agreed, "Carson you can go. You have three hours to do what you need to do, but we need you back here."

"Thank you Dr. Weir," Wynnie replied as she stepped though the event horizon once again. Wynnie radioed her team as she walked back into the city explaining the situation and confirmed negotiations were going well. Before reaching the city's entrance she turned to Beckett. "We can't let her "owner" catch us. I don't know what they'll do to you, but it could mean death for me… citizen or not."

"Right then we should make this as quick and simple as possible." Gela greeted them and they hurried back to the small barn. The young girl's fever had spiked and her face was beginning to swell up. Dr. Beckett looked at the girl and had a pretty good idea of the illness. "Wynnie are all of your vaccinations up to date?"

"Yes why?"

"It looks like the mumps. How long has her face been swollen like that." Gela looked up.

"It only started about and hour ago. I recognize the symptoms now we call it Swells. I've had something similar but I was alright after a week. But I was really lucky many people in our city have died from it, mostly women." Dr. Beckett bent down and examined the girl and nodded.

"She seems to have all the classic symptoms of what we call on our planet, Mumps. There's really not much you can do but treat the symptoms. I'll leave you with a bottle of aspirin to help lower her fever. Although complications do arise they are uncommon. However, she is very contagious to others so I would keep contact to a minimum. She needs lots bed rest and fluids."

"How do we keep her owner from forcing her to work?"

"I'm not sure, perhaps if you have a better room you could keep her in...?"

"No if her owner find out were holding her…" Gela looked up fearfully afraid to continue.

"Stupid girl," a low voice growled. Gela was paralyzed by fear as Dr. Beckett and Wynnie turned around slowly to see one of King Lero's men. "I told you to stay away from here." He back handed Gela across the face and she fell to the floor, her lip split open. "Your brother's going to be furious. And you disrespectful little whore," He grabbed Wynnie's hair pulling her up before shoving her to the floor. "You just cannot keep your place here. Our merciful king let you into his palace with the warning to keep to your self, but no you had to go gallivanting off to help some simpering little lesser." He turned to Beckett who was helping Wynnie up. "You guests are very disrespectful. Our King explained the penalty for helping the lessers, but you had to throw off the balance. I will not die because of you." He grabbed Gela and held his sword to her back. "You will come with me." He grabbed Wynnie in a tight hold and dragged her behind. Then he turned to Beckett. "If you want her to live I would suggests you come with me."

"No," Wynnie called to Beckett. "No, you head back. Get the rest of the team and head back. Please."

"I'm sorry lass," Beckett replied. "I can't just let them kill you. We'll think of something." The guard dragged Wynnie and Gela into the throne room. Gela was forced down to her knees and Wynnie was thrown down and her P90 kicked away. She looked up and saw her team was being held behind guards now stripped of their weapons. Beckett was shoved back with them as Wynnie looked on helpless. This was her fault and she knew it. If she had just laid low and let her team accomplish the mission, they would be on their way back Atlantis with all the provisions they needed. Her team looked confused but realization spread over their faces as Wynnie was kicked back down to the ground after trying to get up.

The king looked furious as he stared a submissive Gela down. "This is the third time you have been brought to me under mortal law three, aiding a condemned." Gela was shaking as she wiped away blood from her split lip.

"I'm sorry brother," She whimpered

"DO NOT SPEAK TO ME." His voice roared though the great hall. "I was lenient before. I forgave your other faults but I cannot over look this blatant disregard of my mercy. It will be your last" He indicated to the guard holding her down to draw his sword. Before Wynnie could scream out Gela was executed right there. Wynnie looked in disbelief at what just happened. She turned to her team fearfully.

"RUN," She called to them. "Run now." She ran down her guard and grabbed for her weapon. Her hand was stepped on as she felt the bones crunch and she yelped in pain. Without missing another beat she grabbed his sensitive area with a twist and ran toward her team who was battling with their own guards. Some how in the midst of chaos Bestin got his gun back and kept the guards at bay and they made their way though the busy streets out of the city. As they reached the gate Beckett dialed back to Atlantis and the team continued holding off their captors who had turned the team's own weapons against them. She turned back to make sure her team was getting thought just in time to see Bestin, who was last man back, take two hits to his chest. Oryna turned back and helped Wynnie grab him as they pulled him though the gate. Bestin died before they made it though.

Beckett looked upon the soldier's still from and shook his head. "The bullet hit his aorta he wouldn't have survived anyway." He said with a sigh calling his team to help him pick up the body. Wynnie looked up on him angrily.

"You're just going to leave him there, not even trying to help him," She cried.

"I'm sorry Wynnie, he's already dead, and there is nothing I can do. He died quickly." Beckett offered as consolation. Wynnie dismissed her team and was about to storm off when she was met by an angry looking Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard.

"Captain, I need to see you in my office now," He stated coolly "Sergeant, Lieutenant we will debrief after I'm done talking to Captain Flynn."

"Yes sir," they answered as they walked out of the gate room. Wynnie walked in as Sheppard shut the door.

"How's your hand?" He asked quietly

"Hurts like hell sir." Her tone was even as she forced her well trained officer façade. "But I'll live."

"You should probably have it looked at." He sat down and sighed. "What happened out there Flynn? Not only did you get Lieutenant Bestin killed, you put our chief medical officer in danger. For a case of mumps, what were you thinking?" The anger had subsided but his tone was still harsh.

"I made a poor judgment call Sir. I thought she was sicker than she really was, and I didn't think they'd react so rashly against my team. I though if anything they're just try for me. But I should have suspected."

"I see."

"Look it's my fault Bestin was killed. I should have just kept to myself as I was told and everything would have gone fine. But…" she sighed. "I just felt so sorry for those women, Gela looked up to me for help and I just wanted to do something. Almost anything they do is offensive to men and grounds for death."

"This wasn't the time or place to start the women's rights movement. Not at the expense of your team, this cannot be taken lightly."

"Yes sir."

"I'm going to talk to what's left of your team, go have your hand looked at. I want you back here as soon as you're released." She saluted him before she left and then turned around.

"Sir, if I may, could I write the letter to Bestin's family? I feel that it's my duty to inform them." He nodded. Beckett was back with her team briefing Sheppard, so one of the other doctors looked at her hand. Two broken phalanges, a cracked carpel, and a pulled ligament, was what she ended up with. The doctor wrapped her right hand all the way up to her elbow in a cast and gave her some pain meds as she sat silently waiting for him to finish. Beckett walked in as she waited for the cast to set.

"Wynnie, how's your hand?" He asked with his face was full of concern.

"It wonderful, prefect even," she said icily. "I've got to go see Colonel Sheppard. This is probably the last day I get to spend here so the sooner I get it over with the sooner I can get my things together."

"You really think he'll send you back to Earth?"

"At least he'll send me back, technically he can have me court marshaled for recklessness causing the death of a fellow officer. I blew it."

"I thought you were very brave. I think that Sheppard will be lenient." Wynnie smiled at him knowing he was trying to make her feel a little better.

"I didn't know Lieutenant Bestin very well, but all of them were amazing soldiers. I actually started to get to know and care about them and Bestin, well he was the optimist. He was the optimist, Oryna was the charming one with a silver tongue, Brickman was the quite, strong one, and me, I was the stubborn, neurotic one." She let out a small laugh, and then shook her head in grief. "All and all a well rounded team, I only knew them for a week or so but we all got along. Oh God Carson I really thought things here were different, I actually let my self start to care about people. I cared about my team, I cared about Bestin, and now he's dead. I kind of hope Colonel Sheppard send me home."

"Don't say that. I know plenty of people who want you to stay."

"Oh yeah who?"

"Well you're lovely friend Madeline for one, me for another, and last but not least I think Rodney may be upset if you left."

"Really, you think he'd miss me?" Beckett looked right at her.

"Yes, I do. Now I you're free to go though I would like to see that hand in a couple weeks."

Sheppard was sitting in his office still trying to figure out what to do about Captain Flynn. She was a good pilot and soldiers but he could not let this go without discipline. Her actions had cost him an excellent soldier, but a voice in the back of his head told him he probably would have done the same thing in her situation. If someone had asked for his help he couldn't tell them no just because it wasn't in his plans. He didn't want to send her back to Earth. He barely heard the knock on his door. "Come in," he said.

"Sir," Wynnie stated as she walked in, "you told me to come back."

"Yes of course. What'd they say about your hand?" He asked looking at the cast.

"Broken," she said flatly.

"Does it hurt?"

"It's fine."

"Right then… I just though I should let you know I'm not sending you back to Earth. However I cannot risk anymore of my men to you recklessness, I have placed Sergeant Oryna in charge of SGA-9. You are also grounded until your hand heals. You're on paper work until then. Is that clear?" She almost sighed in relief.

"Yes sir."

"Alright you're dismissed." She nodded curtly and smiled.

"Sir... Thank you."

"Don't make me regret this." She saluted him and left as the relization of everything that happend set in.


	9. Chapter 9

**More fluff in this chapter. Hopefully it's good. **

**I'm starting to get kind of self ****conscious about this story. I may pull it off completely. **

**I've been working on proof reading a little more so hopefully the grammer and spelling with be a little better.**

Wynnie found her self in front of the gym and she made her way in. All of the rage and frustration from the past day just made it way out as she started kicked the punching bag in the corner. Kicking and spinning, the sweat fell from her brow as she tried hard to work the emotional pain away. She was about to punch the when she stopped her right hand from making contact and stared at the cast irritated. She sank down on the floor crying. "I am strong I am strong," she kept repeating to herself over and over again. Madeline walked in to her friend curled up on the floor. She sat down beside Wynnie and comfortingly rubbed her back.

"Oh Wynnie," she said calmly, "Are you alright?"

"I killed someone Maddy," she said slowly. "I may not have pulled the trigger but it's my fault Lieutenant Bestin is dead. I should have been more responsible." Madeline had heard what had happened and thought carefully about what to say.

"Darling first and foremost you did not kill him. His death, while very tragic, was a result of a scared group of people who felt threatened by you and your team. Second my dear, yes you did make a mistake, but people understand that when it comes down to it they probably would have made the same mistake. Trust me if Colonel Sheppard thought you didn't belong here he could have easily sent you back."

"I know, but it still hurts all the same."

"This is going to sound weird but that good… It means that your icy heart has finally thawed enough to let people in. It also means your human, hun when you lose a friend it's not supposed to feel good and it's never going to get easier."

"I know…" Madeline hugged her friend and lifted her up off the floor.

"You know if Doctor Beckett found out you weren't in bed resting he'd have your ass strung up on a wall and probably mine too. Let's head back, I've got some stolen chocolate from a certain scientist stash and a couple episodes of _Grey's_ left to watch."

"You stole some of Rodney's chocolate?" She sniffed in disbelieve.

"My Italian Stallion… the scientist I was talking to a few days ago gave me a couple bars; apparently it's not well hidden. And McKay calls himself a genius. Oh I forgot I got a hold of some moonshine as well." Her friend wiped her tears dry and shook her head. "It's good to have connections in the science crew. You'll find out soon enough I'm sure." The two of them curled up in Madeline's room with a couple bars of chocolate, and two shots of moonshine each while Grey's played on Wynnie's laptop. Madeline even loaned her stuffed polar bear to Wynnie so she's have something warm to cuddle up with. She was asleep before the first episode was over.

"Hey girl," Madeline said shaking Wynnie awake.

"What time is it?" Wynnie asked rubbing her eyes trying to focus.

"It's 4:30 am, you can go back to sleep if you want to stay, but I wanted to let you know I've got to head out. I'm heading to the mainland with my team."

"Oh…" Wynnie stammered jealous that her friend was going on a mission.

"Wynnie dear, you get a break, get some sleep. I've not been able to sleep in past 6am since I've gotten here. And that was a good night's sleep. My captain is a hard ass, not as bad a Myles, but pretty close.

"Yeah yeah, just shut the light off before you go. I'll probably head back to my room after lunch, and then I don't know maybe some solitaire. Colonel Sheppard's got me on paper work duty tomorrow so I'll probably just relax as much as possible today. Beckett won't let me jog anyway."

"Do you want anymore pain meds before I go?"

"No thanks, just hurry up already." Madeline laughed as she got her gear together and walked out.

Aournd lunch time Wynnie decided she wasn't hungry and downed a couple of power bars instead. Then she proceeded to take one of the pain meds the doctor proscribed for her throbbing hand, and wandered back to her room in a medicated haze. On her way she proceeded to bump into a very annoyed looking McKay. "Hey Rodney watch it," she mumbled almost incoherently. He looked up at her angrily for a moment before his gaze softened.

"Oh Wynnie," he said helping her up, "I didn't see you. I guess now were even."

"Huh?" she replied still in a half asleep daze.

"You bumped in to me and spilled my lunch, and now I've run into you. Well maybe I didn't spill anything but I did knock you down. I guess you knocked me down the first time. Whatever… now we're even for the fall and one of the chemists I work with found a reaction with phosphorus and got that chocolate out of my pants, which reminds me… Do you know who may have taken a couple of my chocolate bars. I swear someone on my team keeps taken some." Wynnie smiled knowingly to herself and put a finger on his lips in a shushing manner.

"Shhhh, you talk too much. If I knew about your chocolate stash I have dove in head first by now." Realization spread across McKay face as he looked down at the cast covering her arm.

"Oh… right… how are you Sheppard told me everything."

"Peachy… I'm peachy as always, everything is peachy. Bright perfect and peachy, nothing could be better except maybe getting attacked by wraith. Thank God I've only had the pleasure of meeting them once and very briefly." The last part was the only serious thing she had said.

"Wynnie…" Rodney started almost unsure of what else say. "I should probably let you know Sheppard doesn't think poorly of you. In fact he thinks you're an excellent pilot and a strong leader, but you did cause a man to be killed and that can't be overlooked. So you got yelled at, I've been yelled at too, I once lost the trust of my best friend because I screwed up. Give it sometime and people will eventually forgive you."

"Humph, talk talk talk that's all you do for once just shut up and enjoy some silence, your voice is pounding in my head." Her eyes were drooping even more.

"Are you really alright, you seem… drunk?"

"Yeah they pain meds for my hand. They make me kind of loopy and tired. So yeah I'm ah just going to head back to my room. Wanna walk back with me, if you can just please be quite."

"Errr sure…" McKay stammered slightly embarrassed. Her hand made its way into his as he led her back to her room. She laid down on the bed and looked up at McKay. "I've got to head out, I've got a big problem in the lab, we brought back a simple portable energy pack from one of the missions we were just on and I'm playing around with it because it may be something we can use. I know it's a magnate passing though coils storing the energy it into a simple capacitor, but one of the scientists on my team broke off part of the circuit, moron."

"Damn it McKay, you turned down my last invitation to cuddle with me, now I'm looking at you expectantly and all you can talk about is damn capacitors." He blushed slightly and looked unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just… frustrated, sore, and highly medicated looking for a little comfort from the one person who I wanted it from most, who ironically enough is the only one who hasn't really offered any. Do you really like me at all?" He sighed and rubbed his face.

"You know I do…"

"If I lay here… If I just lay here… would you lay with me and just forget the world." She sang horribly out of tone in a voice that sounded more like a dying cat than a person, but it made McKay smile.

"Alright… I will lay with you, just as long as you promise me to never sing again." He put his arms around her and let her snuggle up close. Her body was warm and her head made its way onto his chest as her breathing evened out and she fell asleep. He smiled down at her and brushed the hair out of her face and kissed her forehead.

**The brief song snipit was from Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars. Not my own.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I do like working in this story. However, a good dose of writer's block mixed with stress from school has prevented me from working on it. Also it has not gotten very much feedback so I didn't even think anyone was really reading it, but now I know people like it, I will put more effort into working on it. So please read, enjoy, and review. **

Rodney woke up a few hours later slightly annoyed he fell asleep. He gently shifted Wynnie off of him and stood up before someone knocked on the door. He looked at Wynnie hoping she'd wake up and get it, but she just rolled over and mumbled something incoherent. Finally McKay opened the door to see a surprised Sheppard.

"Rodney, what are you doing here?" He asked with smirk forming on his lips.

"I uhhh, fixing the computer," McKay offered as he turned to look at Wynnie who had grabbed an arm full of the blanket.

"Rodney how'd you get so cold," she mumbled in her sleep as Sheppard raised his eye brow.

"The computer, right," Sheppard said. "Well then I'm just going to leave these files on her desk." He put the papers down and turned to leave.

"John, wait, I was just heading out." McKay ran to catch up. "Not that it's any of your business but nothing happened; she was just looking for some comfort."

"So you guys didn't… you know-- have sex."

"How could that happen we were both fully clothed and I was on top of the blankets? Unless someone's created a way to have sex where there's no contact, I can assure you we didn't."

"That's good." Sheppard visibly flinched at the image of seeing McKay naked. He quickly banished the images from his mind and shuttered.

"What was that for?"

"Nothing… I just walked though a cold spot. So you like Captain Flynn?"

"Yes I do, I mean she's no Samantha Carter, no one can come close to her, but yeah Wynnie's cute. She's unpredictable, maybe a little too impulsive, neurotic, and emotional, but she's adorable, so how could I not like her."

"I see."

"Well I mean she's pretty, relatively smart, but when she makes a decision she sticks to it no matter what. She's decisive do you know how hard that it to find in a woman. Plus she's firm and strong. I mean with everything she's been through and still fighting, I have to at least respect that."

"Everything she's been through?" McKay shook his head and shot Sheppard and angry look. "What?"

"Never mind, you know what, I'm going to head back to her room." He turned and made his way back.

Wynnie woke up and looked at McKay who sitting at her desk looking though files on her computer. "Hey," she said softly.

"Hey," he replied, "I hope you don't mind I was just going though the cities power grid while you were sleeping. I didn't want to leave you though…. How's your hand."

"It's sore, but alright, and that's sweet you stuck around," she added with a small smile. Wynnie pushed her self off the bed and put her arms around McKay looking over his shoulders.

"You know your computer runs very slow; I can fix that if you want."

"I know it runs slow, I've got like 20000 music files on there and the jump drive, I maxed out two credit cards before I left to get it."

"You really love music. What kinds of music do you have?"

"All kinds, it's a little bit of everything. Some classical mostly by the London Orchestra, probably my favorite there is Holts' The Planets. Also some John Williams, I was a big fan of Indiana Jones. I've got quite a bit of 80's rock; you know the stuff I listened to in middle school and high school, like Poison, Cinderella, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, Stone Temple Pilots was my favorite. Also some newer stuff like System of a Down and Nine Inch Nails, and mellow music too, Enya, and Norah Jones."

"I thought you were a good Christian girl?"

"That doesn't mean I couldn't listen to good music. I've got a bit of Christian rock on here too. I can't fight all of my past. But literally, I listen to everything."

"So why didn't you study music?"

"Trust me if I could sing I wouldn't be here now would I? But I got kicked out of choir when I was in middle school, something about being tone deaf." He laughed at her knowing that the last time she tired to sing his ear drums nearly burst. "Anyway I'm going to go take a shower. You're welcome to stick around."

"I really do have to head back to the lab. But… I guess I'll see you later." Wynnie frowned for a moment, and then nodded stiffly.

"Yeah, see you later."

Wynnie met up with Madeline for dinner and both girls sighed into their plates, Madeline from exhaustion, and Wynnie from frustration. "How was your mission?" Wynnie asked while poking her food before shoveling a huge forkful into her mouth.

"Jeez girl, you should take smaller bites." Madeline replied slightly disgusted. "Anyway my mission went fine, we traded for some of the Athosian's surplus crops, and basically just made sure everything was alright. It was pretty uneventful. How about you, still out of it from the drugs?"

"Yeah, it's been a while since I took a pain pill but now my hand's throbbing again so I thought I should take another. Tomorrow starts my long and boring time as the secretary for everyone, filing papers, organizing documents, oh yes my dream job." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "It's kind of like being back at basic and having to scrub the latrines, only I guess this is cleaner."

"Wynnie dear you did screw up and it's only until you get better."

"I know I'm not upset. I got very lucky. But Colonel Sheppard doesn't trust me anymore, so even when my hand does heal, I'll still probably be his personal secretary." Madeline smiled almost wistfully.

"I could think of worse things to do than work with that man."

"What about the scientist guy you're seeing?"

"Hey a girl can still have a dream man, especially one as handsome as Colonel Sheppard." Wynnie shook her head in annoyance. "How about you and Dr. McKay?"

"I'm not sure, one minute I think things are going great, and then I don't know, he seems to clam up on me. I'm going to give it some time and see how things go."

"Probably a good idea."

"I'm going to run and grab some more meds; my hand is starting to kill. I'll see you tomorrow."


End file.
